Worship - Its Components Pt 3 [Thanksgiving in Prayer]

There are two further aspects of the content of our prayers when worshipping God that come within the topic of components of worship. They are namely, Thanksgiving and Supplication. We may not be able to cover both of these today.

Before we proceed to consider this next topic of thanksgiving, there is a reminder of the significance of prayer in the Old Testament system of worship. Within the Tabernacle there was the altar of incense. It was placed closest to the veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies where the ark of the covenant was placed.

The priests burned incense morning and evening upon this altar by taking burning coals from the brasen altar outside. As the incense was cast upon the burning coals it filled the holy place with a wonderful fragrance.

This offering of incense was a symbol of prayer. David makes this very clear in Psalm 141:2: Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

There are two points worth noticing here:

1. Prayer takes us as close as possible to the holy presence of God without us actually being there in person;
2. Prayer works only because of the incarnation and blood atoning sacrifice of Christ which opens up the way to God.

With the importance of prayer re-emphasised, let's consider this next element of Thanksgiving.