Bad At Prayer | Friday

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When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. (Matthew 6:5)

I still remember the first time I ever prayed out loud in front of people. I had just become a Christian at a small country Baptist church.  One Sunday at the end of the message, the pastor started looking around.  Because I was young and didn’t know the church rules, I also didn’t know that you always look down or away at the end of a message so you don’t get asked to pray.  Well, because I’m making direct eye contact, the pastor asked if I would close us in prayer.  I just simply shook my head no.  He waited a second and then just prayed to close us out.  I skipped a week or two just to let him know that I should not be asked to ever pray again and made a mental note to never look up towards the end.  Sure enough, that Sunday, he had the nerve to ask me again. So I prayed what, in hindsight, was clearly a rough prayer.  

I literally said, “Dear God…then forgot everything else, so I just stayed in silence for about a minute or so and then finally said, “Amen”.  It wasn’t a great prayer and I felt humiliated.

But when we read how Jesus teaches us to pray, we see that it might not have been as bad of a prayer as I thought. He teaches us to pray simply, to pray earnestly, and to pray from the heart. It doesn’t need to be fancy. It just needs to declare that we acknowledge God for who He is, remind us who we are and help us stay in alignment with believing the truth of His grace and good news.  

Prayer for the Day

God what are you  showing me?  What am I going to do about it? 

God help me to see one person that I can serve through a kind word, random act of kindness, or simple gift today?

Make sure you complete the reading or comment today.

Read The New Testament In A Year

4 x 6 Plan | Read: John 14:1-14 & 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12