Worship is not the expression of gift—not the personal gifts of Ephesians four (evangelists, pastors, or teachers), nor those spiritual manifestations, given by God, for the help and blessing of the assembly (Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12). Worship should be the privilege and joy of every believer as they participate in their priesthood. The exercise of gift in worship is invariably a distraction. If these gifts are habitually used, they deprive worship of its true character, and we are the losers for it. Few things are more jarring than for a brother to provide a commentary on a portion of Scripture during a meeting intended for worship. This is not addressed to God; it is for the benefit of those listening and consequently the focus immediately turns inward. Scriptures read during worship are not for teaching nor are they for exhortation, they should be an expression of the heart. Such verses will harmonize with the sentiments expressed by the hymns and prayers. Very often, and appropriately so, such a reading is followed by prayer which gives further expression to the heart’s exercise.
We cannot worship without prayer, because desire goes ever beyond our present ability to worship; restricting it to mere praise is impossible, it is never unmixed with prayer.x To pray does not require gift; it should be second nature to a child of God who, by the Spirit, cries Abba Father. Yet, few prayers seem to accompany worship, and when they do, they may take the form of supplication rather than thanksgiving and communion. Sometimes prayers even become teaching, which begs the question, to whom are we praying, God or man? It, understandably, takes a degree of courage to give out a hymn or to pray, but when one is led by the Holy Spirit, it ceases to be about oneself and that self-conscious awkwardness is diminished. We should not attempt to imitate another; it is all too natural to compare. Some may have the ability to express thoughts eloquently, but a stumbling prayer from the heart may say far more in one-minute than five minutes of words perfectly expressed. Thankfully, we have many wonderful hymns that convey the thoughts we may vainly try to put into words; nevertheless, we should not use hymns as a substitute for prayer. Moreover, we should remember that worship in the assembly is not a hymn-sing. It is the collective expression of the assembly, and it takes a suited state of soul to have the heart and mind attuned to the leading of the Holy Spirit.