worship and prayer

Blessed be God,

because he has not rejected my prayer

or removed his steadfast love from me!

Psalm 66:20

Prayer grows a deep tap root into real worship. I find that when I am honestly, faithfully, and meaningfully praying, my worship of God intensifies. My heart is drawn to God in prayer. And that is the sense I get from this last verse of the sixty-sixth psalm. God’s faithfulness in hearing prayer, and His faithful, gracious love in the answers to prayer ought to spark an inferno of true worship!

You can really see this if you back up in this psalm to see verse 20 in its context (see Psalm 66:16-19). This is a testimony of praise. And the “answers” to prayer in this psalm lean heavily toward soul change and not just to physical needs (Psalm 66:16). There is simultaneous praise and request in the prayer that is offered to God (Psalm 66:17). Sin is confessed to God honestly and straightforwardly (Psalm 66:18). God has heard this worshipful prayer and has responded (Psalm 66:19).

My soul, too, is so very thankful for answered prayer. I don’t think I stop to acknowledge this enough. I am in awe of the power and grace of God at work in my soul as a result of time in worshipful, meaningful, soul-changing fellowship with my Savior in prayer.