Watch What You Pray || Worship Helpers || Week 3

Today, we are focusing on how to use our words to do good and not harm. If you’ve had to learn to watch what you say, raise your hand or put in the chat, “I’ve heard that.” It’s a fairly common practice that we teach children and youth throughout their life. I agree it’s a good sentiment, but I believe it’s even more powerful to watch what we pray. A prayer is a powerful tool in many ways that offer praises and pleas to God. As we learn about using our words for good, today, we will focus on using our prayers for good.

Our worship aid is called the “5 Finger Prayer”.

Your thumb represents praying for your family and friends. When I think of my thumb, I give a thumbs up to someone. A thumbs-up gesture represents a positive gesture of affirmation and a sign of being okay. Our family and friends should be that group of people that surrounds us with positive affirmations, love, support, and care. As they support us, we can support them. We can pray positive affirmations, share God’s love, ask God to protect them, and ask God to see how we can support them in a way that supports us.

Your pointer finger represents praying for any teachers, coaches, healthcare workers, first responders, and more in your life. When I think of my pointer finger, I think of the leadership and guidance that these people can offer. I think of people in these positions and look at the impact they had and have on my life and the world. Our lives would be different without these people. As we pray for them, we may pray for the continuing impact on the people of today or their protection to continue to do their job as best as they can. We’ve seen people in this field going beyond capacity over the pandemic, so that we can pray fervently for them.

Your middle finger represents praying for leaders. (pause) I know what you’re thinking, and that’s not what your middle finger represents. I look at that and see how we use our middle finger “authoritatively.” We can also see how the leaders in our life have the authority given by God for their position. As we pray for our leaders, let us pray for God to give them the wisdom, leadership abilities, and authority to use their power for good and not for evil. We can also pray for the guidance they need to continue through their jobs every day.

Your ring finger represents praying for the people who are sick, vulnerable, and in need. I think about how our ring finger is where the wedding band goes. We are seeing a unity of two people becoming one in marriage. I also think about Jesus’ relationship with those who are sick, vulnerable, and in need. We’ve seen Jesus devote much time to caring for and healing those in need, and part of what he did was pray over them. We can use this time to pray for those who need healing, who need resources, who need love, who need care, and for those who feel alone in their time of need. We pray that God cares for them, guides them to where they need to be, heals their afflictions, and comforts them. We also pray that God can and will use us to help in areas in need. However, they need to be.

Lastly, your pinky finger represents praying for yourself and your own needs. When I think about our pinky, I think of a pinky promise. That promise that you lock in with someone binds your trust to them. What if we made that kind of promise to ourselves? What if we made that contract with God to take care of ourselves and what needs we have? We can pray to God to do the same thing we’ve asked him to do for others. I say this because we may have a hard time believing God can do it for us. We can pray to God for the ability to take care of our needs, as essential as they are. This thought is even something I’m walking through right now. It feels easier sometimes to take care of others. This prayer is to make it easier to take care of yourself.

Our prayers have power. Our words have power. Let’s align them together and give them to God for praise and glory.