It is assumed that all Christians pray, but even this
assumption is not a very safe one to make.
Unfortunately, many people who call themselves Christians simply do not
pray at all and some pray prayers that are quite misguided.
Here are some of
those misguided prayers:
- Get out of a jam prayers – We have no desire to obey God or live lives His way. We just want to avoid the consequences for our sinful choices.
- Prayers to mask disobedience – Sometimes we pray in such a way to divert attention from the basic and straightforward obedience God is calling us to.
- Fancy word prayers – There are times when we think using fancy words or repeating certain phrases will merit God’s attention more when all He really wants is our heart.
- Prayers boasting about how much God owes us – These kinds of prayers are really boasts about all the good things we have done in order to somehow make a deal with God and remind Him how much He owes us.
- Stalling prayers – Sometimes we use prayer as an excuse for inaction.
Let’s be honest . . . All of us have prayed prayers like
that at one time or another. However, as
we grow in our relationship with Jesus our understanding of prayer changes and
our attitude about what prayer is even about changes.
We instead become people who pray not in misguided ways
and not just to bombard God with our to-do lists. We become people instead who pray for our
heart to be merged with God’s heart and for our mind to be conformed to His
mind. Indeed, while we still make
requests to God for personal needs, we also find that our prayers become more
focused on the needs of others than they do on our own.
At what point did your prayer life begin making this
transition from misguided to more mature?
What lessons did you have to learn along the way to make
this move?
What lessons is God teaching you now that will move you
further down the road in your walk with Him?
What do you pray for?
My prayer life made its transition from misguided to more mature when I stopped begging for God bail me out of situations in which my bad judgment had placed me. I started praying that He would guide me in the right direction, and I prayed for inner peace and calm assurance, neither of which I had when I was leading a life motivated by worldly desires and sins of the flesh.Now I pray that will be able to place others' needs before my own. I also pray for the state of the world a lot. I know that everything that is currently happening is happening just as the Word said it would. I pray for grace constantly, as life on Earth would be unbearable without it. I pray for those who are lost and despondent. I pray for things that I don't understand. I pray for healing and peace and goodness. I also pray that the Lord will guide me every day that I am here on this planet and that I will be able to touch peoples' lives in a positive way. I just want to help. :)
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