Prayers of the Reformers (8) – J. Calvin on Worship

The following prayer of John Calvin for purity of worship is found in the profitable collection of prayers titled, Prayers of the Reformers, compiled by Clyde Manschreck and published by Muhlenberg Press in 1958 (p.60).

This too is fitting as we end the Lord’s Day in God’s house of worship.

Grant, almighty God, inasmuch as Thou hast deigned to gather us into Thy church, that we may never turn aside in the least from the purity of Thy worship. May we always regard what pleases Thee, and learn to direct our doings and our thoughts in obedience to Thy truth, and worship Thee purely both in spirit and in external forms that Thy name may be glorified.

May we retain that purity which Thou commendest to us, that we may be indeed members of Thy only-begotten Son.  As Thy Son has sanctified Himself on our account, grant that we may also through His Spirit be made partakers of the same, until He at length will gather us into His heavenly kingdom, which He has obtained for us by His own blood. Amen.

The Ingredients of Worship (3): Admiration – A.W. Tozer

In an article on worship titled “Missing Jewel” (January, 1968), pastor A.W. Tozer wrote these words about some of the “ingredients” found in true worship:

     We must appreciate the excellence of God. Man is better qualified to appreciate God than any other creature because only he was made in God’s image. This admiration for God grows and grows until it fills the heart with wonder and delight. ‘In our astonished reverence we confess Thine uncreated loveliness,’ said the hymn writer.

The God of the modern evangelical rarely astonishes anybody. He manages to stay pretty much within the constitution. He never breaks out from our bylaws. He’s a well-behaved God, very denominational and one of us. We ask Him to help us when we’re asleep. The God of the modern evangelical isn’t the God I respect. But when the Holy Ghost shows us God as He is, we admire Him to the point of wonder and delight.

Published in Essays on Prayer by A.W. Tozer and others (Inter-Varsity Press, 1968), pp.3-4.