Pray from Your Heart
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. Matthew 6:5
Jesus said the Pharisees turned prayer into ‘a theatrical production’, and that God wasn’t moved by it. Author John Ortberg points out five things about them: ‘1) Their prayers had become a shallow exercise rather than a deep relationship-building one. 2) They were rituals, rather than authentic expressions of a loving heart. 3) They were long and wordy, designed to impress others. 4) They were filled with meaningless clichés. 5) They became a cause for pride rather than an opportunity to express humble reliance on God.’ Can you imagine your child approaching you with a whole bunch of religious ‘thee’s’ and ‘thou’s’? How would it make you feel? When it comes to prayer, Jesus said: ‘Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense His grace. The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply’ (vv. 6-8). You can pray anywhere, at any time: in your car, in the bathroom, lying in bed, while you’re exercising, or at work. All God asks is that you be spontaneous, personal, and honest. In other words, pray from your heart.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me pray at all times in all things – sharing with You what I am feeling and seeking You to be part of what I am doing to further Your will. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
Today’s message is what I needed to read today. Sometimes I sit down to do my devotions and I’m at a loss for words. Some days I just pray, Help me.
Thankyou for this today LCC..
On oh so many occasions, actually daily, I find that prayers that coursed through my mind were answered by the Lord in various ways. One day, for example, I was in the bank after many hours of struggling and waiting patiently, and we were finally setting up a bank account for the mission. While sitting there with Kenneth Ramirez, a man I had chatted with came up and asked about our water. He remembered repairing our pum. I needed to set up our water holding tank, but hadn’t known who to call. There came the answer. Later, while chatting with Mr. Ramirez, he mentioned that he had worked for Belize Telephone Ltd. I mentioned how we needed better internet service, but BTL couldn’t help. He mentioned how another customer had tried a little known company. I checked with them later that week, and sure enough they had what we needed. Three prayers answered in one sitting. Beautiful.