Are you enjoying your prayer life?
About ten years ago I had to admit to myself that truly I was NOT enjoying my prayer life. If I was going, to be honest, I’d say my prayer life felt a bit like a Barnum and Bailey’s Circus performance. It was the same “performance” every day, the same words, verses and some quotes that I’d heard other people say thrown in for good measure. It was a good show but the same show every day. Websters Dictionary defines the word “rote” as the “mechanical or habitual repetition of something learned.” Mechanically, automatically, unthinkingly or mindlessly. Wow, that was me. Did this kind of prayer even make God happy? After all isn’t that the goal of prayer?
I heard a quote once that said: “Every problem we face past, present, or future is solved by God revealing more of Jesus to us.” What did Jesus have to say about prayer? In two words BE AUTHENTIC. Jesus had a lot to say about being real. In Luke 18:9-14 he shows us the contrast between a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee is clearly a prayer professional while the tax collector is an amateur.
I love verse 13 where it says in the MSG “ Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give me mercy. Forgive me a sinner.” Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you are content to simply be yourself, you will be- come more than yourself.”
Be yourself in prayer? Be the real me with no performance? So the next day I thought I would give it a whirl and I said something like this. “ God I am tired of the Howard Cosell prayer life. ‘The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. There is much more defeat than victory it seems. Most of the time I am exhausted and I feel like prayer is just another task on my to-do list so I won’t feel guilty. On my list of 107 things I need to do today it just feels like prayer is 108. It is my deal God, not yours. I am sorry for thinking this and please help me, amen.
Was this amateurish authentic prayer the kind of thing God was looking for? YES. The most difficult religious thought I had to overcome was the purpose of prayer was to make God happy. So let’s follow the logic here. God is unhappy... I pray then He is happy. Doesn’t that sound like the very definition of
a performance? Maybe even a Pharisee? How many minutes makes God happy? Twenty? Forty? Sixty minutes? God is happy because Jesus shed His blood on the cross of Calvary. If my prayer points could make God happy Jesus never would have had to die.
After many years I have finally realized the purpose of prayer. Prayer does not make GOD happy it makes ME happy. It is where I get my cup filled and not emptied. It is where I lay my burdens down, not pick them up. It is where I receive forgiveness and mercy. St. Augustine said it best, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and ENJOY Him forever.” Are you enjoying your prayer life?
~ Sandra Davis ~