Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

Ecclesiastes, chapter 5, verses 1 and 2,

guard your steps when you go to the house of God,

to draw near to listen, is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools,

for they do not know that they are doing evil.

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God.

For God is in heaven, and you are on earth.

Therefore, let your words be few.

Wow, those two verses definitely make me not want to say much,

even to lead into prayer, and even as I pray,

this is a good reminder to all of us that when we come before God,

we need to remember who he is.

I need to pause. I say this often with my kids when we're about to pray

before a meal, and that prayer time can feel so routine and almost mundane

if we're not careful, and so I'm constantly saying,

hey, let's pause and think about who we're talking to right now.

And that's a good reminder for us right now, and all the time,

when we think about prayer, when we think about prayer individually,

when we think about gathering together with others for prayer and for worship,

a Sunday, for example, in church, guard your steps when you go to the house of God.

And obviously, house of God is talking about the temple here in the Old Testament,

a way that's different from church buildings today,

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