Muttering Prayer

You know those prayers, the prayers where you mutter the same thing as the previous day, week, month, year before. We all have them, they tend to be the prayer that we say when we are tired and just want to go to bed, or the prayer that we say because we know we should pray but we are unsure what to pray. My prayer often goes something like this:

“Lord thank you for today, thank you for the things you have given me, Lord may I please you today and make wise decisions.”

I apologize if this makes you think less of me, but you will get over it. I realize that my prayer life at times shouldn’t be the way it is, and I try to practice both prayers throughout the day as well as a time of meditation. This is a completely different topic that I may right about another day.

So back to the main point I am trying to make. As I was praying one day I noticed the line, Lord may I please you today, was somewhat of a let me take care of the day prayer. It was saying, “Lord give me the strength when and if I need it – I’ll take it from here.” This is not a prayer that I want to be praying and yet I have been repeating it so often. Luckily by God’s grace He is patient with me and has revealed how childish and selfish this prayer is. I know the Lord understands my heart and what I am truly saying – though He probably isn’t the biggest fan of my quick prayers.

You may be thinking I am over analyzing this, but let us remember the Lord is very particular about words, I mean one of His names is THE WORD. He also has a book full of words which is called the Bible, and we need not to take those things lightly – so why should we take our words of prayer lightly?

My prayer was an unconscious way of me relying on myself. Instead I should be saying, “Lord I give you today, I give you my worries, I give you my fears, I give you my passions, use me today.”

“Then Jesus said, 'Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.'”

       - Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT)

These words in which the Lord spoke are a promise in which we can rely on. We no longer need to live our life in which the world tells us, but we need to live a life that is given to the Lord. This passage reveals to us that living for the Lord, though sacrificial, is a life that is fully lived because there is nothing holding us back! Hallelujah!

I encourage all who read this to look at their prayer life. I don’t think I am going to stop with my short prayers, but I am going to change the wordings to be more specific to what the Lord has promised me. This being said I hope you do the same. I have always found it encouraging reading how Christ prayed before His crucifixion. If you have time, read and meditate on the Gospel of John chapter 17.