Prayer in the worship service is pre-eminently a pneumatological reality: prayer is a gift from the Holy Spirit. The question that is addressed in this article is: Which decisive function does the Holy Spirit fulfil in the elements of the prayers in the worship service? Aspects that are discussed include the work of the Holy Spirit in the service events, especially in prayer and the essence of the service; the elements of the service prayer; the congregation's participation in the service prayers; and the relationship between Scripture reading and preaching to service events. The Spirit works the most intimate relationship between the prayer believers and Christ, and so with God the Father, this is the trinitarian grounds for the service prayer. Prayer entails spiritually entering God's holiness, directly addressing God, the confession of the believers and the most important part, their gratitude. In prayer it is above all about the honour of God. Elements of the worship service prayer include honour and awe for God (praise) and gratitude towards God (saying thanks), a realisation of sin and repentance (humiliation and confession of sin), invocation that can even be a lamentation, dependence and a Christian attitude of love (intercession). The relationship of Scripture reading, preaching, prayer, worked by the powerfull work of the Holy Spirit, is a causal relationship of community with God in Christ with his gathered congregation through revelation to confession and worship.
