Be Yourself with God - September 24, 2013

Matthew 6:5
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

God created you, and so he wants you to be the real you. By being authentic when you speak to God, you worship him as you Creator.

For years I copied the prayers of other people. I noticed they used certain words and even a special tone of voice. I imitated all the religious clich_s: "Lead, guide and direct us, O Lord." "Bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies." "Bless the gift and the giver."

In New Testament times, prayers were wordy, meaningless rituals. There was no spontaneity, no genuineness. But Jesus says don't get caught up in ritual prayer. You don't have to use fancy language. You can't impress God with fancy language, and you shouldn't be trying to impress other people either.

I love to hear new Christians pray -- no pious pomposity. They haven't learned the clich_s yet. They just say, "Hi, God. It's me." That's how you make contact with God. You just talk with your Heavenly Father about what's on your mind. Just pray your heart. Reveal yourself.

I know this is an early post, but this reminds me about a story in the bible.
Remember the story where in front to the offering box, there was a person who put a lot of money into it showily, and a poor woman who had only a single coin and offered that? This devotion reminds me of the very thing the rich man did; he showily did it to look good to others. Meanwhile, the poor woman shared and gave everything of herself. Although that story and this devotion doesn't necessarily relate, I just wanted to share it.

I remember when I was young, there were always these jipsanims who came to our house and when it was pray time, they would just go into this formal ancient korean that everyone was somehow fluent in. I later, realized that it was like a norm in Korean prayers, a cliché of sorts. But God doesn't want that. He wants originality, he wants you. No "오주여" or anything. He wants a simple "Hey God". That's pretty amazing.

Something I continuously fail to recognize is that God doesn't judge you by the tone of your voice or your extraordinary vocabulary, but your heart and how you truly feel about Him. Whenever I pray I always feel a bit of anxiety in the sense that I am being judged by the way I speak by either God, or others. It's almost like there is a certain way to praying, and you have to have that mentality and pray the way that is "normal" in order to be accepted. But I realize that God does not judge you, nor is trying to discourage you in any way, He just wants you to be yourself. Being yourself with God gives you that authentic originality that no one else has, because everyone is different. God created you the way you are for a reason. He wants you to praise, worship and devote your life to Him the way YOU feel like, without having to feel like you are being judged. I feel that this devotion as well as you guys (fellow members of the PT) have helped me become more confident with my self and helped me with my walk with God. Although I still feel a bit awkward when praying, I will try to be more open and not worry about anything else when I am praying, because I know now that I will not be judged.  

God knows us better than we know ourselves. Because of this fact He sees through us and we can't hide anything from Him. Why then should we act any differently than who He created us to be? As the devotional pointed out being ourselves with God is the best way to talk to Him and honor Him through our prayer. This is something I struggle with: many times I try to sound fancy or Godly when I am praying in the presence of other people, and even when I am alone I tend to use those cliches. I want to break this habit to be real with God and to speak to Him as just myself. This devo really taught me a valuable lesson and applies well to my life.

This is extremely relevant to me. Especially in group prayers or when people ask me to pray. I feel like everyone is listening to my words and I sometimes focus on trying to make my prayers SOUND impressive and sincere- instead of simply praying sincerely with no unnecessary flourish or exaggerated vocabulary. It's so true that we have certain prayers that we just slightly reword and say over and over again as the occasion calls. Such as the before-meals prayer, the keep-us-safe prayer and the before-retreats/church/any godly event/-prayer. We shouldn't ever have to plan ahead or steal other people's prayers. Praying is talking to God and it should be a conversation- not a repetitive ritual. When we talk to our friends we don't repeat the same things everyday with no meaning or sincerity. So basically we should all focus on ourselves and connecting with God through our prayers instead of letting the fact that others can hear you influence the way you pray.

This is the biggest unspoken problem that goes on for me.
My way of praying has changed based on what I belied was "proper". Honestly, Praying aloud in front of people makes me uncomfortable.
It is Not because I'm shy!

It makes me wonder, what is the reason of doing this?
We also need to think: how different are our prayers when we are alone, silent among people, and praying out loud among people?
I asked my mom that question and then we discussed for a while.
The words said through prayer should be honest and open but I believe that prayers can be different. Although, There are appropriate times where we pray for certain things.
But remember to ways be honest and open when you're talking to him. It's alright if its not the way most would. He doesn't need to hear you use good vocabulary or talk for a long time, it just need to come from the heart.

~Audrey~

Mmmm I think this sort of reminds me of P.Sam's testimony.

I've felt that a huge message of his testimony was that you don't go to church because you're with God, but you go because you need God. With that in mind, having this fake facade of this all good personality coming into the church is just pointless. It's going to church for the wrong reasons and with the wrong reasons.

Purposeless.

I mean, if we're going to come to a hospital, we should be going with an open mind towards our problem and a desperate seek for help. Essentially what we're doing is going to a hospital and telling the doctor "Hey! I'm doing perfect, but thanks for caring!"

Utterly pointless, and a waste of time. By wasting that Sabbath day, we're essentially wasting God's time. Through that, we're disrespecting him.

It seems so dumb that we try to show God something that we're not. It's basically hiding ourselves from Him even though He knows where we are. I guess it's not necessarily "lying" but it is covering our flaws and deformities. It naturally restricts us, as our true feels wouldn't be poured out to Him. Although He knows us inside and out, they can't really be resolved unless we take it to Him, with humble hearts. For me, I just give up because He knows. It always seemed like prayer would've gone to waste if I hadn't told God the truth. And who cares if we think our problems are lame? What's the worst God can do? Judge us?...

So yeah this devo is basically saying to be real, especially when you pray to God.

This reminds me of people back a few hundred years ago who would write endlessly when their point could be summed up in a few sentences. It is not necessary to have all of those other words just for the sake of making the point seem longer or more extensive; and when you sum up what you say in the few sentences, it ends up making more sense and it makes sure that you don't drift from your original point.

The same idea goes for prayer. When Jesus told us how we should pray through the Lord's prayer, the prayer itself was to the point and concise, yet it covered all the major areas that the prayer was meant to.

Genuine sincerity is what God is looking for, and we should not give Him anything less.

I think to God, hearing all those $5 dollar words during prayer takes away from the real purpose of prayer, and just sugar coats everything. It's not authentic, it's not genuine and it's not who we are. God probably has seen it and heard it all, there's no sense in trying to impress Him. God wants to spend time with us without this pretense of something we aren't. God wants to talk to US and spend time with us, and not spend time with flamboyant and elaborate words.
I've always been told that prayer's powerful. It's power does not necessarily come from the words we use, but I think rather it comes from  our heart, soul, body, and mind, and how they're all working together to really experience, and focus on the prayer.
God sees beyond the walls, masks, and pretenses we created, if we come to God with our genuine selves, I think it'll make everything we do for God different for the better.
He loves us for who we are.

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Mark 12:30