Getting It Right

Prayer can be useless. It can achieve no real good except to prove the frustration of doing the right thing the wrong way.
One of the assurances that are associated with prayer is that prayer can accomplish great things. The Scriptures illustrate that there is no activity that offers us access to greater power than prayer. And yet the Word of God gives the following blunt disclaimer,”When you ask Him … be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waiver … Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:5-8 NLT) Prayer is powerful and effective only when it is bound together with faith.
Worship can be useless as well. When worship is divorced from obedience it is just words. Present day Church culture is quite fascinated with worship. This fascination has led to worship having a place of prominence in most Christian gatherings. Worship is now a genre of music and dance and become an accepted contemporary art form. But without the company of obedience to the Lordship of Christ, worship cannot find its way into the Presence of God. Worship of the Lord must come from one who is obedient to the Lord of the worship.
King Saul’s worship was betrayed by the sounds of disobedience and it cost him his crown. Sacrifice that is offered on the strange altar of disobedience is just smoke that blinds the eyes of God. Is it any wonder Jesus prophesied that God will not be able to recognize some who have called Him Lord? The challenge that I am setting before us is to be careful to maintain an unbroken relationship between our words of prayer and our confidence of faith, and between our words of worship and our commitment to obedience.