(Inspired by What Happens When We Worship by Jonathan Landry Cruse, pg 32)
We are gathered here on this Lord’s Day, not only to glorify God in worship but to train our hearts and minds for the Kingdom of God. Every week, from Monday through Saturday, the world tells us what matters most, what is most valuable, and what we should want. But the world is deaf, dumb, and blind to the Kingdom of God. Jesus said that “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 ESV) And so of course, the priorities of the world will lack the right perspective. And there’s no escape from this messaging. Even if you don’t watch TV or scroll social media, the messaging seeps in. The priorities of the secular worldview are pervasive and relentless.
But Sunday is a time when the church gathers to shake off this false and misleading messaging and to be retrained. In worship and in the Word, we are being told and telling one another what actually matters most, what we should want most, and what we should treasure above all else. It is a time when we order our thinking and affections towards the things of God, to lift our eyes beyond the immediacy of today’s problems and fix them on the treasures of God’s eternal kingdom.
And so to that end, let’s pray.
Prayer of Preparation for Worship
Heavenly Father, apart from the redemption we have in Jesus and the regenerating work of Your Holy Spirit, we too would be deaf, dumb, and blind towards your Kingdom. But You are a gracious and generous God, who opens the ears of the deaf, heals the eyes of the spiritually blind, and turns foolish hearts to wisdom. Continue that work in us today, O Lord, as we lift our hearts up to Jesus—marveling at the redemption that we have in him, and setting our hearts on the rewards of His coming Kingdom. Holy Spirit, be our helper as we do this. In Jesus’ name.
Amen.