My last post on this blog was about reverence for God. Click here for it. This one is along the same lines, but with a more specific focus on prayer.
First - I want to say that I cannot see hearts, I can only see what happens on the outside. I am not God, and I do not claim to have all of the answers. However, I have recently made some observations (probably not the first one to make these since there's nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9) ) about prayer, and specifically about praying in groups. These are just my opinions, and feel free to comment or message me to talk about what was said here. :)
The title for this post is an awkward one to say is it not? God, I pray that, God... Interesting sentence in a lot of ways. Have you ever heard anyone pray like this? Every other word is Lord, God, Father, Jesus, or some other derivative of our Holy God that we come to in prayer. You might laugh or even scoff at me for even recognizing this, but it is true of quite a few people when they are praying. I have heard quite a few prayers that go like - God, I pray that, God, you would change hearts, God; Lord change lives, God; God do this, God; God do that, God. Think about it - you know you have heard (maybe even said!) this prayer.
Let me qualify this, because I am not trying to be offensive in any way. A while ago I was talking to a friend about prayer, and he pointed out to me that a lot of people use the Name of God as a filler word in our prayers. This was pointed out to him by a friend who noticed him doing it. Anyways, I kind of laughed at him, because he told me that the friend who pointed it out to him counted something over 50 times that he said some form of the Most High Name of God in less than five minutes of prayer. That's crazy! However, as I prayed more, I realized I was quite guilty of this. Then, as I was praying with some other people, I stopped counting during someone's prayer when they reached over 100 times within 5 minutes. I'm not kidding! I can hear some judging me and saying - you should have been praying - not counting how many times...blah blah blah. However - it gets very distracting and very confusing to others around when every other word is God, Lord, or some other Name of God.
Anyways, the reason I am pointing this out is not to judge the way people pray, and certainly not to stop people from calling upon the Name of The Lord. I am pointing this out because I think we need to be a lot more careful in how we use the Name of God. Think about it - are you guilty, as I have been, of using God's Name as a filler in our prayers? Ecclesiastes 5:2 says this: "Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few." Think about that for a second. Think about the weight of that. God is in heaven, and we are really specks of nothing on this earth (yes, loved and valued by Him, of course). Let your words be few. Once again, God is not your homeboy - He is the Sovereign God of the universe. Think about how you are talking to Almighty God!
Now, of course I understand that not everyone is a master at poetry, or an English major, or that people are new to praying because they are new Christians, or even that they are fluent in any language at all, and all of those things are fine because God knows the heart behind the prayer (this is why I don't judge hearts, I can only see what happens on the outside and I am simply making an observation). I just think it is wise to choose words carefully when speaking to the our Saviour.
That being said, another issue I have observed is praying for other people to hear, rather than praying to God, for His glory. Once again, I am and have been guilty of this at times. We have all heard it - the prayer who prays "eloquently", or that prays so another person will feel better because of that prayer, or prays with increasing tempo, loudness, fervency, until they finally get the resounding "Amen" that they were looking for. Or how about that person who knows about something wrong in someone's life, and prays against that thing, hoping that they will be convicted by the words they say, instead of by the Holy Spirit. For the third time, I can't see hearts, but I know my own, and how much of a sinner I am, and my heart is still made of sinful flesh, and I know I am not the only one who does this.
What I am trying to say here is that we need to be careful to pray to God and for God. We shouldn't be praying for the approval of people around us (Galatians 1:10, Matthew 6:5). We pray for the people around us, sure, and even with them. Thank God for people? Absolutely! But not so they feel better. Thank God for them because you are thankful to God for them. Prayer should never point to us, it should point to God in every way. God creates, sustains, gives peace, heals, restores, gives joy, gives strength, convicts, renews, and so much more. Prayer that elevates us in any way is idolatry, and you're trying to be the idol. "Look at me - I can pray with volume, eloquence, fervency, and for days!" I am not saying those things are bad - if they are done for the glory of His Name. I am saying that we need to check our hearts even before and during our prayers. God wants us to come before Him, knowing we are sinners (saved by God's grace of course, but that's another blog post), not thinking that we are amazing (Luke 18:9-14). God honours and blesses the humble heart, not the proud heart.
Should we pray? All the time (Ephesians 6:18)! Just make sure it is to glorify God in every way, and nobody else, including yourself, in any way. After all, the chief end of man is to glorify God...
