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Prayer: Short, Simple, Honest
Keep it simple.
As human beings, we like to make things more difficult than they need to be.
We also feel the constant urge to impress others by looking and sounding better than we really are.
We don’t need to impress God. He’s the one who wants to be friends with us. Just be you. The real you, not some weird version of you.
Just talk with him. We can’t mess it up! My best advice on prayer: Say exactly what’s inside you. Keep it simple.
Keep it short.
Just to be clear, there's nothing wrong with long prayers. They're just not required to be long. We shouldn't randomly add things so our prayers are a certain length.
You don't need to pad your prayers like you did your eighth grade book report. God just wants to hear from you.
Whether our words are few or many, our God loves hearing from us throughout the day. He wants to be part of our day. Like a parent, he'd much rather hear a quick "hello" from us than nothing at all. Keep it short.
Keep it honest.
Who knows how many times I’ve prayed what I thought I should pray or what I thought God wanted to hear rather than what I was actually feeling and wanting to say. I tell God that I’m thankful when I’m really upset. Or that I’m grateful for his peace when I don’t feel any.
That’s called lying!
One of my favorite psalms is also one that’s a bit scary if you stop and think about it. In it, David talks about how God sees everything and is everywhere. He sees us when we wake up. He sees us when we’re traveling and going from here to there. And then David says this: “Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.”
Isn’t that a beautiful and terrifying thing to know about God? He knows everything I’m thinking and everything I’m going to say without me even saying it?
Just as he did in David, God sees everything in us. He sees all the unspoken words within us. So, be honest and say them. Keep it honest.
When praying, do you tell God how you really feel or what you think He wants you to say?
Do you ever feel like you don’t know how to pray? Does this keep you from talking with God?
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About this Plan
Prayer seems like it should be so simple. Yet, when it comes to actually praying, often it feels awkward and complicated. In this 5-day devotional, Embrace Church's lead pastor Adam Weber shares the truth about prayer: how simple prayer actually is. It's like talking. Talking with a good friend. And the best part? Our God can't wait to talk with us.
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