Fourth Requirement for Approaching God in Prayer

So far, I have outlined three important requirements for approaching God in prayer. First, we must renounce our own will. Second, we must approach God in faith. Third, we must pray in the name of Jesus.

All these requirements, in different ways, have to do with the way we approach God. Today, I’m going to speak about yet one more requirement that also has to do with our approach to God. We must come to Him with worship, with praise, and with thanks.

Let me repeat those three words: with worship, with praise, and with thanks. Now, these three things are closely related and yet they’re distinct, and each one of them is important in our approach to God.

First of all, I’ll speak about worship. Worship is something that is very little understood in contemporary Christendom. Worship is not praise. Worship is not singing hymns. Worship is something different.

All the biblical words that are translated ‘worship,’ both in the Old Testament and in the New, describe primarily an attitude of the body. There are different attitudes represented by different words. One means to bend the head low. Another means to bend the upper part of the body forward and to stretch out the hands. And a third means to prostrate oneself face downwards in the presence of the One whom one is worshipping.

But all the words that are used describe an attitude. Worship is not so much what we say, it’s the attitude in which we come. In the sixth chapter of Isaiah, Isaiah had a vision of the throne of God. And above it, he saw the seraphim, the burning, fiery creatures that surround God’s throne. And he saw that each had six wings, and he saw what they were doing with their six wings.

With one pair of wings, they covered their faces. With a second pair of wings, they covered their bodies. And with the third pair of wings, they flew. Notice that flying comes last. The lesson is that worship comes before service, and worship is twice as important as service. Four wings were given to worship, two wings to service. And the wings of worship are described before the wings of service. Worship, in a sense, is covering your face. It’s covering your body. It’s bowing low. It’s bending the head. It’s an attitude.

Of course, it does not have to be a physical attitude. We’re talking about something in the spirit, the approach of our spirit to God. Jesus said the true worshippers must worship God in spirit and in truth. So we’re talking about a worship in spirit, an attitude of the spirit, a heart bowed low in the presence of God.

This is represented in the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:9,

“Pray in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.’”

After we have first addressed God, the next thing we say is, “Hallowed be thy name.” Thy name is holy. It’s a privilege even to use thy name. We do it with reverence. We do it in lowliness. We do it in awe and wonder, honor and reverence. That’s worship, a heart bowed low in God’s presence. And the true worshippers must worship God in spirit and in truth. It’s an attitude of the spirit.

Then we look at praise. Praise, I would say, is vocal. It’s uttered. It’s different from worship. Worship is the attitude; praise is the vocal expression. We praise God for who God is and what He does in general.

This is stated in Psalm 48, verse 1:

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.”

Praise should be in proportion to God’s own person. He’s great. He should be greatly praised. Praise is the response of the human heart to the greatness of God: great in wisdom, great in power, great in His creative works and acts, great in His redemptive acts, great in His dealings with us. Everything that God is and does is great. And the praise He receives from us should be in proportion to His greatness. “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.” Let me say, you never waste time praising the Lord. Most of us do it far too little.

And then we see in Psalm 100, verse 4, that praise is essential for access to God’s presence. Familiar words:

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and bless his name.”

Here, the psalmist speaks both about thanksgiving and praise, and he indicates that in order to have access to God, we must come with both, with thanksgiving and with praise. There is no other way to come into God’s presence but with thanksgiving and praise. We must begin our prayers, not with petitions, but with worship, with thanksgiving, and with praise.

There’s a beautiful phrase in Isaiah, chapter 60, verse 18. This is a prophetic description of the city of God, the place where God dwells, the home of God’s people, the place of salvation. And speaking of this beautiful place, this city, Isaiah says,

“You will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.”

Notice, this city is surrounded by walls that are salvation. That’s God’s provision, protection for His people. Salvation is the great all-inclusive word for all that God has provided for His people through the death of Jesus on the cross. It’s every benefit and every blessing that has been purchased for us by the shed blood of Jesus on the cross. That’s salvation.

But in this city whose walls are salvation, there are gates. And in the New Testament, in the book of Revelation, we’re told very clearly the only way into the city is through the gates. And Isaiah tells us the gates are praise. What does that say? It says that if you want to get into the city of salvation, if you want to get into the presence of God, if you want to come into the enjoyment of all God’s provision and protection and blessings for His people, there’s only one way in. You’ve got to come through the gate. And every gate is praise. So there’s no other way into the presence of God but the way through the gate of praise.