Pray Like You Mean It

“While Jesus lived on earth, he prayed to God and asked God for help. He prayed with loud cries and tears to the One who could save him from death, and his prayer was heard because he trusted God.” Hebrews 5:7

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It’s amazing to me that Jesus prayed with loud cries and tears. It wasn’t with perfect words, spoken in just the right tone. No, Jesus prayed with all that was within him – anguish, frustration, desire, longing...he poured out his heart to God with everything he was feeling. He prayed urgently, with emotion.

Do we do that? Or do we just read through a list of prayer requests and gloss over each one? Emotionless prayers with no sense of an urgent desire for God to answer the needs of our brothers and sisters?

Honestly, I have to raise my hand to this question and say "guilty". Sometimes it’s just a quick, perfunctory prayer that I utter.

 

I’m not saying we should work up false emotions when we pray, but if we are called to be intercessors, we should be praying like we really want God to answer.  If we're praying for the needs of those in our church, we need to pray like these things are happening in our own families, for in truth...they are.

This week, let’s put a little more effort in our prayers. If this does not pertain to you, just dismiss it and carry on, but if it does...then I’m right there with you, my friends.

The last part of that verse says that “his prayer was heard because he trusted God”. Let’s really trust God to go to work in each of these situations. Let’s expect him to answer.

 

What do you do to keep your prayer life vibrant?

Share your thoughts in a comment.

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(Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)