Tehillim Tools: Psalm 50: Finding My Prayer

Why does God want me to pray?
I want to focus my attention before I begin my prayers, specifically those prayers that are not for me, my needs, but prayer as an act of Service of the Heart. I tend to think of prayer as replacing the Offerings, but I then concentrate on the following verses:

“Hear My people and I will speak; and I will testify against you; 
Lord, your Lord, am I.

Not for the lack of your sacrifices will I reprove you, nor for your burnt offerings that are not before me continually.

I will not take from your house a bullock, nor from your corral any he-goats.
For Mine is every beast of the forest; the Behemoth upon a thousand hills.

I know every bird of the mountains; the teeming life of fields is mine.

Were I hungry I would not tell you, for Mine is the inhabited world and its fullness.

Do I eat the flesh of bulls; the blood of he-goats, do I drink?

First offer to the Lord thanks and then pay to the Most High your vows.

And call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will free you, and you will honor Me.” (Psalm 50:7-15)

The key verse is, “First offer to the Lord thanks and then pay to the Most High your vows.” I begin my prayers as an expression of gratitude for all I have. I then choose an act of Service of God that will tangibly express my gratitude.

I find that the action itself becomes a form of prayer.

Only then do I feel comfortable to, “And call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will free you, and you will honor Me.” I ask God to save me from trouble with a promise to honor Him with my actions.