Authentic Prayer

One of the biggest influences in my prayer life has been the following phrase: Be honest!

One of the biggest influences in my prayer life has been the following phrase: Be honest! We know that prayer is part of our relationship with God, perhaps the most essential part. And as with any healthy, functioning relationship it is important to be transparent and honest. All that aside, I don’t just mean surface level honesty, but intimate honesty - the honesty you share with a spouse or a loved one. We can all be honest in small talk and short prayers, but does our honesty have depth and heart and relational value? Sometimes this is the hardest truth to live by, being honest with God, and not just because it’s hard to tell the truth to Him - it would seem easy for us to confess sins in private to a God who won’t judge you for what you say - but I think it is difficult to bear our hearts to Him and, as the psalmist says, “Pour out your heart before Him” (Ps. 62:8).

Here’s a few practical reasons how honesty with God can be helpful:

1. Healing. If you are going through some hardships in life and choose to see a counselor to talk through your issues, you need to tell the truth! This leads to healing, admitting and talking about how you feel. How much more will God, our ultimate Counselor, bring us to healing if we are honest with Him?
2. Hiding is impossible. God knows your thoughts anyway so why bother trying to hide. As the sermon series on Revelation has shown us, Jesus “knows your works,” he always does. I would like to mention that this does not mean we should not say anything to our Creator but it should give us some comfort in knowing how our God
3. Relationship. Our walk with Christ is a relationship with a real person. And we should cherish this relationship more than any other. Prayer is our way of communication with the person of God so our honesty with Him is essential. He desires and longs to commune with us and we should feel likewise (though we often don’t). We should want to be authentic with a person like that.

Let him know your deepest struggles and most exciting joys. Let him know when prayer is difficult, when you don’t understand the Scriptures, when you want to be closer to him but you just don’t feel it right now. He will understand. He will help you.