The placement of prayer after the word is crucial. We have been brought into the very presence of God. In his presence, we have waited to hear him speak before laying our concerns before him. We have not blurted out our cares and concerns without paying attention to what he has to say. But now that he has spoken to us through his Word, what better time is there to take before him our collective and individual concern? Now is the time for petition: prayers for the local church worldwide, and prayers for the needs of the world. In the ancient church pastoral prayer was nonexistent. Prayer belonged to the people and arose out of the congregation.
-Robert Webber, Worship Is a Verb: Celebrating God’s Mighty Deeds of Salvation, Second Edition (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Pub., 1996), 145.