Topic: Simplify Your Prayers [Sunday November 12, 2017]
Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. — James 5:16
I’ve learned that simple, heartfelt, full-of-faith prayers always get God’s attention. Unfortunately, we often overlook this and turn our prayers into a big show when in reality, prayer is simply communication with God.
We have to beware of talking to impress ourselves when we’re praying. Sometimes I think we feel like we need to sound eloquent. We want to impress God with our phrases and sound holy. But God just wants to have a little chat with us.
He wants us to talk to Him like we would a friend—not with a different tone of voice. If we don’t speak Elizabethan English during the day, we don’t need to use it when we pray.
We also don’t have to pray for hours on end. It’s good to schedule prayer time, but we should just pray until we’re finished and then go about our business until the next time we feel the need to pray some more.
The only way prayer will ever be satisfying is if you simply use it as an opportunity to worship and thank God for all He does for you, to get His help, and involve Him in everything you do. He’s not here to be impressed…He’s here to live life with you. Don’t perform. Just invite Him in.
Prayer Starter: Holy Spirit, don’t let me turn prayer into a performance! I don’t want pray a certain way or a certain amount of time just to impress You. I simply want You to be my closest friend and be part of every aspect of my life.
From Joyce Meyer’s Ministries
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
