Honest Prayer
Honest prayer is what God wants. He doesn't want fancy words or cliche' speech. God wants and deserves the honest cries of our hearts. He wants us to cry out from the depth of our being as we are and without falsehood. If we are mad, confused and don't understand the things we are going through than it does us no good and it is an empty prayer to pray and act like we are happy and understand. A sincere prayer comes from the raw, real, us understanding that God knows our hearts and our hurts and we don't need to hide them to come to him in prayer.
Having said this, I don't want to get caught up in seeing prayer as only something I do when I need a "favor" from God. If I am honest about my prayer life, too often, my prayers are "God I need something prayers." There is nothing wrong with prayers of petition or intercession. However, I think it merely scratches the surface of prayer. I have discovered that I connect most deeply to God in my prayer life when I change the way that I perceive what prayer is and "use" prayer.
I have heard it said, and have said, that "prayer is conversation with God and we should talk to God like would any of our friends." However, this can confuse us into seeing prayer as making a phone call to God. But God is not like our other friends and he is not on the other end of a phone when we call him and only knows what we tell him or wish to share. He is with us always. He knows our thoughts. He knows our situations, our need, and our circumstances. He is going through everything with us. 24/7 God is there. If we want to stay with this phone analogy than God is not a "phone call away" when we decide to bow our head and close our eyes to connect. Life is a conference call that we are on with God that never hangs up. God is always there prayer can and should always be happening. This very moment is a moment that you can recognize that you are sharing with God or you can ignore him. This moment is a moment that you spend in God's presence and acknowledge it from the depth of your being or you pretend and act like he is not with you. Honest prayer recognizes and shares each moment, each emotion, each event and happening with God and places it in the context of our relationship with God whose mercies are new every morning and whose love is never failing.
We are not alone. Prayer taps us into the energy source for our lives, it is deeper than words it is a connection at the depth of our souls and an awareness that we can and should 24/7 place our lives into the hands that have made us and continue to shape us.
One final note, just so no one thinks I am against formal prayers. Prayer is about recognizing and taking our lives to God. Formal prayers are great at helping us do that because we stop and say now I am going to recognize my need for God in my life. Prayer as I am suggesting still requires taking our lives in each moment to Him. It is suggesting on ongoing conversation and a perpetual crying out to God. The stuff that we have running through our mind we are running by God and listening for God recognizing that he hears our prayers and is working on our behalf If we never recognize God's presence or offer ourselves from the depth of our being we are just pretending.
Love today.
In Christ's love and mine,
Doug
Having said this, I don't want to get caught up in seeing prayer as only something I do when I need a "favor" from God. If I am honest about my prayer life, too often, my prayers are "God I need something prayers." There is nothing wrong with prayers of petition or intercession. However, I think it merely scratches the surface of prayer. I have discovered that I connect most deeply to God in my prayer life when I change the way that I perceive what prayer is and "use" prayer.
I have heard it said, and have said, that "prayer is conversation with God and we should talk to God like would any of our friends." However, this can confuse us into seeing prayer as making a phone call to God. But God is not like our other friends and he is not on the other end of a phone when we call him and only knows what we tell him or wish to share. He is with us always. He knows our thoughts. He knows our situations, our need, and our circumstances. He is going through everything with us. 24/7 God is there. If we want to stay with this phone analogy than God is not a "phone call away" when we decide to bow our head and close our eyes to connect. Life is a conference call that we are on with God that never hangs up. God is always there prayer can and should always be happening. This very moment is a moment that you can recognize that you are sharing with God or you can ignore him. This moment is a moment that you spend in God's presence and acknowledge it from the depth of your being or you pretend and act like he is not with you. Honest prayer recognizes and shares each moment, each emotion, each event and happening with God and places it in the context of our relationship with God whose mercies are new every morning and whose love is never failing.
We are not alone. Prayer taps us into the energy source for our lives, it is deeper than words it is a connection at the depth of our souls and an awareness that we can and should 24/7 place our lives into the hands that have made us and continue to shape us.
One final note, just so no one thinks I am against formal prayers. Prayer is about recognizing and taking our lives to God. Formal prayers are great at helping us do that because we stop and say now I am going to recognize my need for God in my life. Prayer as I am suggesting still requires taking our lives in each moment to Him. It is suggesting on ongoing conversation and a perpetual crying out to God. The stuff that we have running through our mind we are running by God and listening for God recognizing that he hears our prayers and is working on our behalf If we never recognize God's presence or offer ourselves from the depth of our being we are just pretending.
Love today.
In Christ's love and mine,
Doug
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