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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
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