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Monday, 17 September 2018
Liturgical prayer

The rabbis place great value in liturgical prayer, and so should we. It is common in evangelical Christianity to devalue liturgical prayer. To be sure there can be abuses of prayer, both liturgical and free form prayer. Yeshua, Himself, warns us in Matthew 6:7 to avoid "vain repetitions" when praying.

This verse is used by some to caution against liturgy. However; what immediately follows is Yeshua giving us the greatest liturgical prayer ever (it is named after Him). His point then, must be understood with an emphasis on "vain" and not on "repetitions". In fact, Yeshua makes His own point, saying the issue is "much speaking."

My point here is that there is much value in liturgical prayer. A lot of liturgical prayer IS Scripture itself. A lot more lines up with Scripture. This verse itself tells us how to value Scripture.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for restoration, and for training in righteousness, so that the person belonging to God may be capable, fully equipped for every good deed."

My point would have been made if Paul had only added "prayer" to his list.

But it is there if "prayer" is properly understood. Most of us pray with our mouths open and our lips moving. But God want dialogue (which starts with "di" meaning "two" (way communication). God wants to speak to us. How He speaks is the subject for another time. However; we can easily agree that one of the ways God speaks to us is through His Word.

King David calls upon God to listen and then informs himself to do the same (listen)

Psalm 28:1 "Of David. To You, Adonai, I call - my Rock, do not be deaf to me. If You were silent to me, I would become like those going down to the Pit."

I have much more to say on this, but I don't have to say it all in one day. May the Lord bless you today. Listen to His voice.

Isaiah 30:21 "Your ears will hear a word behind you saying: 'This is the way, walk in it. When you turn to the right, or when you turn to the left.'"

Posted By Rabbi Michael Weiner, 10:17am Comment Comments: 0