NIV Spiritual Renewal Study Bible PlanSample

Just Between You and God

Did you ever long for someone who would listen as you poured out your heart? For someone who would listen without interrupting, without condemning, without discounting your story? God is such a listener, and prayer gives us this opportunity. In fact, honest prayer is one of the most important means to spiritual renewal and continuing spiritual vitality.

One of Jesus’ themes in his Sermon on the Mount was the problem of spiritual pride and competition. He condemned benevolence merely for the sake of impressing others rather than as an expression of faith and love for God.

This attitude is of particular interest in prayer. Who’s our audience? If our focus in prayer is on others who may be listening, we will continually be editing, censoring and measuring our sentences and expressions. We will be more concerned about what others think about our words than about sharing our hearts with God.

Here is Jesus’ invitation: Come as you are! There’s no sense in trying to impress God. While we should always approach God with reverence, we don’t need to censor our feelings or “clean up our act” when we come to him. “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” (Psalm 145:18).

This freedom to be honest is especially valuable for our private prayers. Even when we’re alone, we may be more concerned with getting the words right than with simply conversing with God. But God invites us to come just as we are. Many of the psalms express blunt honesty and emotional expressions before God. Some of these hymns make us truly uncomfortable in their candor, anger and vexation. Yet God receives them all. One of the greatest blessings in prayer is the freedom to be totally honest with God.