What are the prayers?
The prayers we say after the sermon are our petitions to God in response to hearing how He has confirmed His promises to us. We come to God in thanks for His blessings and asking God to show us grace in every need. He hears and answers our prayers in His good time and according to His good pleasure.
What do the prayers have to do with our worship?
They are a response to God coming to us in his Word. We hear God speak to us in his Word and we respond back to Him in prayer with our praise, confession and petitions.
What does the Bible say about this?
Psalm 141:2 “Let my prayers be set forth before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”
Matthew 7:7-11 – Jesus talks about how God cares for us by hearing and answering our prayers
Romans 8:26 – The Spirit helps us to pray with groanings too deep for words.
Philippians 4:6-7 – We are encouraged to let our requests be made known to God and the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 – “Pray without ceasing.”
Revelation 5:8 – The prayers of the saints are brought to the Lamb (Jesus) in praise for opening the way to heaven’s throne.
Suggestions
Pray without ceasing. Teach each other that prayer is talking to God. Have an ongoing conversation with Him and make that part of your daily life. Point out the need to pray about things as they come up. Have a schedule of praying for certain people at certain times of the week (suggestions are available from Pastor). You may want to sing the following hymns from LSB: 565, 570, 701, 708, 729, 770, 919.
Object Lesson
Talk to your children. Teach them that they can talk to God in prayer. They can ask God anything. He will answer with His will and in His time. Teach them to pray about what God has promised (forgive my sins) and to ask for what He hasn’t (with the qualifier, “Your will be done”). Teach them also to pray in Jesus’ name since He has opened the way to God’s throne by dying for our sins.
Prayer
Lord, we thank You for the gift of prayer. Help us to always talk to You and to look forward to Your answer. In Jesus’ name. Amen.