Have We Misplaced the Role of Worship in the 21st Century Church?
One of my favorite parts of the church service is the worship. There is something that is special about the people of God coming together and lifting their hearts and their voices to God in adoration and wonder of who he is. But as great and important as worship is, I fear we have put worship in a position that it was never meant to be in. Before you wonder what I am talking about, let me explain how what we have been taught about worship may actually be incomplete.
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Let me share with you two examples of breakthroughs that happened because of prayer.
1. The Holy Spirit at Pentecost
Why did this happen? Because they were praying together.
2. Peter’s Escape from Prison
In Acts 12 Peter was put in prison by King Herod and his intention was to make a public spectacle of him. However, Herod was not aware of one fact that was happening, the church was praying.
If you read the rest of the story, Peter was miraculously set free from prison, not because the church was worshipping, but because they were praying.
There are more I could cite but I think you get the point. Worship is powerful, but it should never replace individual prayer or the church praying together, because that is not what it was meant to do.
My last point on this is to consider how Jesus described his house. He didn’t call it a house of worship even though that happens there. He didn’t call it a house of preaching and teaching, even though that happens there too. He called it a house of prayer. The defining characteristic of the house of the Lord is prayer. When you dig a little deeper, what truly causes breakthroughs and deliverance, healings, miracles, and everything else that can happen in the house of the Lord or in the life of a believer is a result of God’s people praying.
I would love the church to not just be a church of worshippers, but a church of prayers. I challenge you to use worship for what God intended, and not stop at worship but use it to go deeper into the place of prayer. I know when we get to that place, we will begin to see things happen that can only happen when God’s people pray.
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