In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You, for You will answer me... You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.
Would you pray something you didn't believe? Or, putting it another way, do we really believe our line of prayer? The Psalms are full of prayers. Were they just nice words spoken with no hope of actualization or were they powerful words spoken with expectation? I think we would say they are the latter, but, if we really believe that, why don't we believe the same about our prayers? The most tragic thing that has happened with prayer is that it has become a form rather than our faith. We treat it as a nice thing to do, but not something that amounts to anything other than making us religious. But have you ever thought about what your prayers claim? What if prayer actually set things in motion in our lives? What if prayer actually changed things in our lives? What if prayer actually made a difference in our lives? What if we really started believing what we were claiming? From Psalm 86 alone, you will find some very strong ideas about what the Psalmist believed possible, or he wouldn't have prayed them. Would we believe these to be possible in our lives? If not, why would we pray them? That's certainly why he prayed them. Listen to what he says: Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me... Do preserve my soul... Save Your servant... Be gracious to me, O LORD... Make glad the soul of Your servant... Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer... And give heed to the voice of my supplications! Teach me Your way, O LORD... Unite my heart to fear Your name... Turn to me and be gracious to me... Oh grant Your strength to Your servant... Show me a sign for good... Our prayers ought to be a dead give-away. They ought to tell what our interests are. They ought to tell what our problems are. They ought to tell what our hopes are. They ought tell what our beliefs are. What do your prayers say about you?
Would you pray something you didn't believe? Or, putting it another way, do we really believe our line of prayer? The Psalms are full of prayers. Were they just nice words spoken with no hope of actualization or were they powerful words spoken with expectation? I think we would say they are the latter, but, if we really believe that, why don't we believe the same about our prayers? The most tragic thing that has happened with prayer is that it has become a form rather than our faith. We treat it as a nice thing to do, but not something that amounts to anything other than making us religious. But have you ever thought about what your prayers claim? What if prayer actually set things in motion in our lives? What if prayer actually changed things in our lives? What if prayer actually made a difference in our lives? What if we really started believing what we were claiming? From Psalm 86 alone, you will find some very strong ideas about what the Psalmist believed possible, or he wouldn't have prayed them. Would we believe these to be possible in our lives? If not, why would we pray them? That's certainly why he prayed them. Listen to what he says: Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me... Do preserve my soul... Save Your servant... Be gracious to me, O LORD... Make glad the soul of Your servant... Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer... And give heed to the voice of my supplications! Teach me Your way, O LORD... Unite my heart to fear Your name... Turn to me and be gracious to me... Oh grant Your strength to Your servant... Show me a sign for good... Our prayers ought to be a dead give-away. They ought to tell what our interests are. They ought to tell what our problems are. They ought to tell what our hopes are. They ought tell what our beliefs are. What do your prayers say about you?
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