I know, I know, Shaul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-20 that we are to pray unceasingly, but sometimes I feel so angry about something, or my heart isn’t really into it, that I believe it is more respectful to God not to pray than to act it out, without the heartfelt desire to do so.
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There are times when I am angry, or just grouchy (ask anyone who tries to IM me in the morning while I am having my coffee- they will verify I am a bear in the morning) and as such, if I did my regular morning prayers to God, I just feel they would be more of going through the motions than genuine.
In other words, if I don’t really feel like praying, I think that prayer would not be acceptable to God because he would know my heart isn’t really into it.
Remember how Yeshua talked of the Pharisee praying that he is so grateful he isn’t like the poor and educated, while the tax collector (the epitome of sinner at that time) humbly confessed his sinfulness and prayed how he was unacceptable to God (Luke 18:9-14)?
To me, this is a lesson beyond just how God rejects the haughty and accepts the humble, it is an object lesson in one of the important things about praying: it must be real.
If I am praying to God because I am supposed to do that and not because I want to, to me that is a form of Legalism because I am not really “feeling it”, I am just doing just for the sake of doing it.
I can’t see that being acceptable to God.
Now I know what you are going to say- if I feel bad or down or angry, the best thing to do IS to pray to God and ask him to help me get past that feeling. And I have prayed when feeling down, or when angry at someone (I pray for them, and it is amazing how much easier it is to forgive them when you do that!), but if I know that I am not in the right spirit (pardon the pun) to pray with genuine respect and care and with an attitude of fear, then I believe it is better not to pray at all.
Later, when I am feeling differently and ready to open my heart to God, then I will pray, and probably ask for forgiveness for my poor attitude that I had earlier.
My message today is this: if you are not ready to come before God humbly, with no bad thoughts in your head, and a heartfelt desire and need to talk to God, then wait. Wait until you are over the bad feelings, and then come before the Lord in prayer.
It is my genuine belief that God will accept any heartfelt prayer from anyone, but he doesn’t want to hear prayers that are repetitious or strained or generated not by desire to commune with him but done only because you think you have to.
It’s better to wait until you want to pray to him than to pray to him because you have to.
Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!
