Worship and Prayer 

Sincere worship is the mobilization of all the powers of the human personality under the dominance of the evolving soul and subject to the divine directionization of the associated indwelling spirit. The mind of material limitations can never become highly conscious of the real significance of true worship. Our understanding of the reality of the worship experience is primarily determined by the state of development of our evolving immortal soul.

Worship is the highest privilege and the first duty of all created intelligences. Worship is the conscious and joyous act of recognizing and acknowledging the truth and fact of the intimate and personal relationships between God and his creation. The quality of worship is determined by the depth of creature perception; and as the knowledge of the infinite character of God progresses, the act of worship becomes increasingly all-encompassing until it eventually attains the glory of the highest experiential delight and the most exquisite pleasure known to created beings.

Worship and contemplation of the spiritual must alternate with service and contact with material reality. Work should alternate with play; religion should be balanced by humor. The strain of living should be relaxed by the restfulness of worship. The feelings of insecurity arising from the fear of personality isolation in the universe should be remedied by the faith contemplation of the Father.

Worship is the technique of looking to God for the inspiration of service to the many. Worship is the yardstick that measures the extent of the soul’s detachment from the material universe and its simultaneous and secure attachment to the spiritual realities of all creation. Worship is the act of a child’s personal communion with the divine Father.

Sincere and genuine prayer earnestly reaches toward spiritual ideals but is unique from worship as it has an element of self-interest. An ideal prayer is an intimate and spontaneous expression of the soul's connection with the spiritual realm. It represents a communion of being a child of God and is the breath of the soul, seeking alignment with the divine will.

Prayer is not about gaining favor with a higher power but about transforming one's earthly attitude and expanding the soul's capacity for spiritual receptivity. A personal approach to conversing with the divine does not attempt to persuade or change God. Prayer is a form of communication with the divine and is an act of faith similar to children’s trust in their parents.

It can take various forms. For example, prayer can be a genuine, spontaneous connection with the divine or a rote recitation lacking true spiritual engagement. The ideal prayer is a form of spiritual communion which leads to intelligent worship. True praying is the sincere attitude of reaching heavenward for the attainment of your ideals.

Prayer may be a spontaneous expression of God-consciousness or a humble plea for forgiveness. We may be perplexed by the thought of talking things over with God in a purely personal way. Many have abandoned regular praying and only pray when under unusual pressure, such as in emergencies. We should be unafraid to talk to God while recognizing that our goal is not to persuade or to change God.

Jesus prayed very little for himself, and he never asked others to pray for him. He taught that effective prayer must be:

• Unselfish – not alone for oneself.
• Believing – according to faith.
• Sincere – honest of heart.
• Intelligent – according to light.
• Trustful – in submission to the Father's all-wise will.

Worship is for its own sake; prayer embodies a self-interest element; that is the great difference between worship and prayer. There is absolutely no self-request or other element of personal interest in true worship; we simply worship God for what we comprehend him to be. Worship asks nothing and expects nothing. We do not worship the Father because of anything we may derive from such veneration; we render such devotion and engage in such worship as a natural and spontaneous reaction to the recognition of the Father’s matchless personality and because of his lovable nature and adorable attributes.

Prayer is designed to make us less thinking but more realizing; it is not designed to increase knowledge but rather to expand insight. Prayer is self-reminding and worship is self-forgetting. Worship is effortless attention, true and ideal soul rest, a form of restful spiritual exertion. Worship is intended to anticipate the better life ahead and then to reflect these new spiritual significances back onto the life which now is. Prayer is spiritually sustaining and worship is divinely creative.

Words are actually irrelevant to prayer and worship; they are merely the intellectual channel in which the river of spiritual supplication may chance to flow. The word value of a prayer is purely autosuggestive in private devotions and socio suggestive in group devotions. God answers the soul’s attitude, not the words. It is the motivating thought, the spiritual content, that validates the mortal supplication. Words are valueless.

Primitive man made little effort to put his religious convictions into words. His religion was danced out rather than thought out. Modern people have thought out many creeds and created many tests of religious faith. However, our religious experience should ideally be so personal and so sublime that it could be realized and expressed only by "feelings that lie too deep for words."

We are told that God is known by many names throughout the universe and his name evolves along with the faith-child's concept of God. Whatever we call God, he is pleased that we are reaching out to accept the eternal invitation to have a personal relationship with him. Our ideas of God will become more and more real as we get to know him and eventually become one with him in a divine-personality partnership.

When praying, Jesus said that if we asked for our needs in his name, he would gladly submit the request for us. He knows what we need, even if we don't know or wisely ask, just as our heavenly Father knows. The important thing is to be in regular communion with him.

Prayer is indeed a part of religious experience, but it has been wrongly emphasized by modern religions, much to the neglect of the more essential communion of worship. The reflective powers of the mind are deepened and broadened by worship. Prayer is self-reminding and worship is self-forgetting. Prayer may enrich life, but worship illuminates destiny.

While both worship and prayer are essential components of religious experience, the sincere and heartfelt approach to God through worship is ultimately more important than prayer.