From Jeremiah the man I learn to pray more honest. Listen to one of his prayers:
O LORD, you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Jeremiah 20:7
I ought to pray honest, and I think of how my kids talk to me. They never come to me and say: Oh grand omnipotent father of the household, we come humbly to you in the Hughes name, and in thy presence and in they mercy and grace would it please you to offer us, a double stuffed Oreo cookie.
Do they do that? Never, why? Because they are my children and I am their daddy.
They’re honest! They say things like, daddy, I don’t think that’s fair. And, daddy, why are we going through this?
So just get honest with God, your prayer might be, are you still up there? Or, why aren't you answering me but you seem to be answering everyone else? God is big enough to handle your honesty, God is big enough to handle your doubts. Open up to Him.
In my study of scripture there are only Two Prayer Don'ts:
· Don't pray to be seen.
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray… to be seen by men. Matthew 6:5
I love the true story of when Lyndon Baines Johnson was president, he had a large group of people over and one of them was a journalist named Bill Moyers who had been a Baptist preacher. And at this dinner LBJ asked him to pray and Moyers said he would be honored and started praying and he was real quiet and during the prayer, LBJ excuse me, Mr. Moyers, could you speak up, I can’t hear you. And Mr. Moyers looked at the president and said, I’m sorry, I wasn’t talking to you and kept on praying.
Second thing Jesus told us was:
· Don't pray long, empty prayers.
Maybe you don’t need to pray more, but different. The teachers of the law, They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely." Mark 12:40
I ought to pray honest, and I think of how my kids talk to me. They never come to me and say: Oh grand omnipotent father of the household, we come humbly to you in the Hughes name, and in thy presence and in they mercy and grace would it please you to offer us, a double stuffed Oreo cookie.
Do they do that? Never, why? Because they are my children and I am their daddy.
They’re honest! They say things like, daddy, I don’t think that’s fair. And, daddy, why are we going through this?
So just get honest with God, your prayer might be, are you still up there? Or, why aren't you answering me but you seem to be answering everyone else? God is big enough to handle your honesty, God is big enough to handle your doubts. Open up to Him.
In my study of scripture there are only Two Prayer Don'ts:
· Don't pray to be seen.
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray… to be seen by men. Matthew 6:5
I love the true story of when Lyndon Baines Johnson was president, he had a large group of people over and one of them was a journalist named Bill Moyers who had been a Baptist preacher. And at this dinner LBJ asked him to pray and Moyers said he would be honored and started praying and he was real quiet and during the prayer, LBJ excuse me, Mr. Moyers, could you speak up, I can’t hear you. And Mr. Moyers looked at the president and said, I’m sorry, I wasn’t talking to you and kept on praying.
Second thing Jesus told us was:
· Don't pray long, empty prayers.
Maybe you don’t need to pray more, but different. The teachers of the law, They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely." Mark 12:40
Let's pray honestly!
2 comments:
Honestly.....
I've never even heard a sermon on prayer that can compare to what you wrote. How awesome! And I can refer back to it anytime I need to. Thanks for posting all this great info.
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