How do you pray?

Wednesday, 19 June 2002 devotion

Waldemar Engelbrecht from Johannesburg took the devotion this evening on prayer, from Mt 6:5 - 15

One of the main reasons prayers are not heard, is because people do not mean what they pray. This is clearly seen by the many idioms that is used for prayer, "Let's say grace", or "Let's say the 'Our Father'", etc. If someone talks like that in business, he will not be taken notice of. Do you know what you mean when you pray that God should bless someone, or are you just using beautiful words to bluff others. Remember, God is not bluffed. He sees your innermost being, and knows your heart.

Others pray to have a nice, peaceful feeling about a matter, but they never listen to what God says about it. No, we are communing with God. We should speak to Him and He to us, like a friend talk to a friend. If you have no desire to pray or cannot pray, there is something wrong with your relationship with God. Imagine a husband and wife that forces themselves to talk to one another! That only happens when there's no love anymore and the relationship is wrong.

Jesus' taught us to pray to our Father in heaven. Is He your Father. When did He become your Father? How can you pray to 'our Father', when you have a grudge against a brother? You are excluding him in your prayer! You cannot pray this prayer and expect to be heard, until that matter is dealt with.

Make sure that your prayers issue from a sincere, clean, and honest heart, otherwise your prayers will not be heard.