Skip to main content

Honesty, Prayer and Purity

Church should be a place of refuge and healing. After a long week out in the midst of the world we should come in the doors of our local church and enjoy the fellowship and refreshing that God’s people can share. Unfortunately, we tend to make it a place where we put on our best show. If we are not careful we will begin to dress like those around us, talk like those around us, and even pray like those around us. We do this out of a feeling that maybe we would not be accepted if people saw us for who we really are.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes our prayers are more directed to the people beside us than the God who is among us? We mention upcoming events, troubles, and situations as if God needed to be informed by our knowledge. It is a great revelation and comfort to know that God knows the things that we need before we even ask Him (Luke 12:30). So how should we pray?

I believe that a God honoring prayer should first and foremost be directed personally to God. Not just the opening address, but every word- realizing that we are speaking directly to a sovereign God. Secondly, I believe we need to be completely honest and true during our prayers. That is, not using words or phrases because others use those phrases when they pray and not pretending to be someone we are not. God knows the evil in our hearts (all of it, and its specifics!) and knows when we are praying in a manner of hypocrisy. It is the heart that needs to be cleansed first, because it is the heart and the things that come out of it that defile us (Matthew 15:18-19). So confess these things to God and ask Him for a heart that seeks to please Him and a heart that loves purity. This will take care of the outside actions. Jesus states that a clean heart will produce actions that are pure and righteous (Matthew 23:26).

The problem comes when we try to reverse the process- thinking that if we act right or pray right, our heart will begin to purify itself. The reverse is true. We need to start with cleaning the heart and then in due time God will purify the rest of us, including our actions and our prayers.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Mitch, you're reading my mail. No, we're reading the same Bible. I long for the day the church will truly become a place of healing. You're right; it will start with right hearts praying right prayers.
9:15 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Generation of Mark 13:30

At the beginning of Mark chapter thirteen Jesus is leaving the temple area and one of his disciples points out the grandure of the temple buildings. Jesus' remark to that disciple concerns the fact that these buildings will one day be torn down. The disciples question Him further as to the times of these events, and so begins an extended teaching from Jesus on the end times.As Jesus' remarks are drawing to a close, He makes this comment in Mark 13:30: "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place." (NASB) So the reader is left to wonder the meaning of this statement. Either our understanding of generation is wrong, or we are understanding what Jesus meant by "these things" wrong. I think there are at least two solutions. The word for generation (genea: Greek) could mean, as some side column reference Bibles note, "the human race". This is possible, since the events have not all happened and the human race...
15 comments
Read more

Children, Forgive Your Parents

Originally written on August 7, 2005 I remember the first time my father spoke to me as an adult. I was thirty. I had always looked up to my dad because he has many characteristics that are larger than life. Our relationship had always been that of a father and child. It did not change as I became a teenager and as I entered adulthood this unchanging relationship was the cause of much strain. So I was caught off guard as my dad began to speak to me over lunch one day at Chik-fil-a. As he spoke to me he began to confess the things that he had done wrong in raising my brother and me. It was a remarkable moment. Mainly because I noticed very few of his mistakes. He always worked to provide for us, loved my mother with all his heart, gave us plenty of hugs and kisses, and told us that he loved us everyday. So why would he admit to making mistakes in raising his children? After all, he had done a pretty exceptional job. The truth of the matter is that no matter how good we do as parents and...
1 comment
Read more

Jesus Is Gentle, Are You?

On Sunday night I made a statement in my sermon that I would like to amplify a little bit. I stated that in our marriages we are to model Christ to our spouse. That is, we are to be a visual demonstration of who Christ is - in our homes. So that when our spouse looks at us and our children look at us they see someone who looks like the Jesus they read about in Scripture. With that said, let me remind you of what Jesus said in Matthew 11:19; “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Did you catch that? You will find rest for your souls if you learn from Jesus to be gentle and lowly in heart. Let’s just take one of those for a second. Jesus is gentle. He is gentle in his words and he is gentle in his actions. So we must ask the question, “Are you gentle in your words and actions?” Are you gentle with your spouse when they say something wrong or speak out of turn? Are you gentle when you speak to your children? E...
Post a Comment
Read more