Prayer Post 4

Hello! I know you all have been patiently anticipating prayer post 4. Actually, this post is part two of post 3. It deals with another aspect of praying with gut-level honesty. This post will be based on Matthew 6:5, 7.

"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… And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words."

1. Do not be like the hypocrite when you pray. What does this mean? Well, the word hypocrite comes from Greek plays. It is a theatrical term. Whenever Greek plays were in existence, the actors held masks in front of their faces to portray their characters. This is where the word hypcorite derives. Hypocrite basically means play-acting. It is acting like something that you are in fact not. It is "wearing a mask." So, when we pray we are not to wear a mask. We are not to pretend to be something we are not. God is not a spectator in a box seat watching our prayer performance. He does not want performance. He desires gut-level honesty. Do not try to pretend to be a prayer warrior. Just be yourself and communicate with God. Do not put on a show or a play, if you will.

2. Do not pray to be seen by men. This is another aspect of being a hypocrite, putting on a show for others. Have you ever been to a prayer meeting, and you could see that someone was just putting on a show while they were praying? I have, and I can not stand this. Some people pray as though they are putting on a theatrical drama of some sort. It is all for show. They desire applause. It seems they are performing a speech or even praying a sermon, and sometimes it is at you, not with you. Sometimes these people are praying at God, if you will, instead of praying to God. Actually, some of these prayers are telling God what to do instead of being done in a worshipful attitude of reverence and awe. Anyway, you get the point. Do not pray for show or for the applause of man. Pray with gut-level honesty. Pray like you are your real self. No special words or formulas, just talk to God. Others will greatly appreciate this. Trust me!

3. Do not babble and babble along in your prayers. In other words, God doesn't mind short prayers. Praying for a long time does not get God to hear you anymore than praying for a short time. God is not impressed or moved by the length of a prayer; he is moved and impressed with gut-level honesty and sincerity. Pagans think they are heard because they can pray for hours on end as though God answers a person due to the length of their prayer. Christians know God hears and answers their prayers because God says he does in his word, not because they say prayers like they are running a marathon. Now, do not misinterpret this verse as meaning you cannot pray for something more than once. That is not what this verse means. As a matter of fact, Jesus told the parable of the persistent woman who kept knocking on the door of the judge until he answered her. You can pray more than once for something; this shows faith and persistence, but you do not have to pray for eight hours or even fifteen minutes about one particular subject. You can ask openly and honestly, and you can ask openly and honestly several times until the prayer is answered. If you pray for fifteen minutes, and it is a sincere prayer, that is awesome. If you pray for five minutes, and it is sincere, that is awesome too. If you can pray for eight hours, and it is a sincere and honest and heartfelt prayer, that is awesome too; however, length is not a requirement, but gut-level honesty is!

I hope you are getting something out of these posts. I plan on doing more, so stay tuned. Prayer post 5 will be coming!

Prayer Post 3

Well, I have been making posts on prayer, and today I am posting a third. We have talked about why people do not pray (Prayer Post 1), and we have talked about prayer as conversation (Prayer Post 2). Now, I want to discuss the first characteristic of prayer, honesty. When we pray, we should pray with gut-level honesty. Let me illustrate with some verses from Exodus 5:22-23.

"Moses returned to the LORD and said, "O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all."

Here we have Moses talking (remember, prayer is just communicating with God) to God with gut-level honesty. Sounds like he is complaining. Well, in a way he may be, but he is not being irreverent to God, and that's the key. We can talk to God about anything we feel or think. I promise it will not shock God. We can be honest with God, and yet, we can still be fearful of him. When I feel like God has walked out on me, or if I feel like God is a million miles away, I tell him. There is nothing wrong with that. God desires to know about our happiness as well as our depression, anger, and frustration. We can communicate with God just like Moses. Moses felt that God had betrayed him. He thought God had put him up to something only to set him up for failure, and he communicated those thoughts and feelings to God in an honest way. Listen you can do the same. Express yourself (remember that Madonna song) to God in all honesty, but express yourself in worshipful, surrendered honesty. I tell you it is extremely liberating. Wherever you are right not, start talking to God honestly and openly. Do not use fancy words, but just talk with plain vernacular to the Holy One. He welcomes all you have to say.

Stay tuned for Prayer Post 4, which will include part two of praying with gut-level honesty!

Prayer Post 2

Prayer is simply communicating with God! Nothing more; nothing less.

Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. Psalm 5:1-3

In these verses of Scripture, we see three things:

(1) Sighing is praying, and the Lord considers our sighing. There are all sorts of sighs. Sighs of disappointment, sadness, gladness, and security. All these are forms of praying because they are forms of communicating. We all know that most communication is done by body language and not just merely what we say. Often our body language betrays what we speak and truly reveals what we are thinking and feeling. This is how we detect a liar. Their body language and words do not match. The same is with our praying. We can communicate to God through our sighing and body language. Have you ever considered that? Reminds me of the verse in Romans 8 where Paul says that the Holy Spirit prays through him when he does not know what to say by groanings and utterances. Interesting!

(2) Secondly, God hears our voice. When we call out to God, we can be guaranteed that He hears us. Scripture says, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened." God really does hear our prayers! Of this, we can rest assured.

(3) Thirdly, we need to listen for God to speak to us. Communication is a two way street. It is not a monologue; it is dialogue. Do not forget that. God cares to hear what we have to say, but he desires to speak back to us. He wants to have conversations with us. So, when you pray, listen for God to speak back to you. Guess what? If you do, you will be truly transformed. Praise God!

Prayer Post 1

I think I will do a series of postings on prayer over the next few days. Here is the first.

Today, I just want to give you a list of the most common reasons, I have found, why people do not pray.

1. Not sure they know how to pray.
2. Get bored or distracted while trying to pray.
3. Think your request are too small.
4. Not sure your prayers make a difference.

If you have any comments to make about this list, or if you have more to add, please feel free to comment.