I used to approach prayer like putting on my Sunday best.
When I was a child, (I’m the cutie in the middle) I remember having to put on a dress or a skirt to attend church. No pants or trousers were acceptable for a girl. So, I thought I had to “dress up” my prayers in the same way and make formal, polite conversation with God.
God, I thought, respects respectable prayers.
Yet, God doesn’t care much for pretentious prayer.
God prefers honest prayer.
I don’t think most of us intend to be insincere when we pray. We mean well. We just haven’t understood God wants us to talk to him openly.
Max Lucado writes: Prayer really is simple. Resist the urge to complicate it. Don’t take pride in well-crafted prayers. Don’t apologize for incoherent prayers. No games. No cover-ups. Just be honest—honest to God.
Honest prayer is unsophisticated, plain speaking the thoughts of our minds.
Honest prayer brings the deepest secrets of our hearts to God.
Yet, often our thoughts are ugly, our language is far from clean, and our deepest secrets are disgusting, even to ourselves.
Honest prayer does not faze God because God knows everything about us.
You don’t need to cover-up when you talk to God
Thank goodness then, we are told to pray in secret.
What will your prayer look like today?