Monday, October 29, 2007

Are Your Prayers Sincere?

Psalm 34:17 "The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles."

Psalm 138:3 "In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul."

I was glancing through a devotional book I have and found this poem and quote that was in it. I read it and it struck me as powerful. I want to share it with you now.

I often say my prayers
But do I ever pray?
And do the desires of my heart
Go with the words I say?
I may as well kneel down
And worship gods of stone,
As offer to the living God
A prayer of words alone,
For words without the heart
The Lord will never hear,
Nor will He to those lips attend
Whose prayers are not sincere.

~~John Burton~~

"God hears the heart without words, but He never hears the words without a heart."

What a profound statement that is!! If we are just uttering words to God and our heart is not in what we are saying then He will not hear our plea. God listens to the heart...so our heart must be crying out to Him.

What are your prayers? Just words with no heart....or our words with your heart? Think about that the next time you go to God in prayer.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

It very interesting that you posted this tonight. I preached to our people yesterday morning on this very thought it seems like so many times we go to God just with words, but when we really need God we cry out. How sad we our as Christians sometimes. I am glad that we have a God that wants to hear from us. Good Post.

Bro Tim

Jessica said...

That's a good post!! I love that poem.

Sometimes I catch myself praying just "words". Many times when I'm praying before I go to bed I am just praying because it's what I always do, but I'm really tired so don't put much effort into getting into God's presence, the Lord will speak to my heart and tell me that I might as well just go to bed, if I'm not going to do any more than say "empty" words.

Great post!!

Love you,
Jess

TO BECOME said...

Prayer is such a wonderful priviledge and even duty. I love to pray. I can't imagine going for long without talking to my very best friend. I am so thankful that I can pray and even more to have the assurance that He is listening to my every word and He hears my heart when I don't have the words. Thank you, connie from Texas

Patriot said...

New giveaway this week for American made toys! Come on over to check it out - and spread the word!

Have a fantastic week!!

Mrs. Anna T said...

Julie, thank you for making me think about this. I pray every day, and usually my heart goes out to my Father as I talk to Him. But sometimes just empty words escape my mouth and I'm unable to concentrate.

~~Deby said...

btw ...Sis Kristi is posting right now on prayer..
Deby

Sis. Julie said...

bro. tim....I think we are all guilty at times of this very thing. It is neat that you hit on this in your message to your church.

Sis. Julie said...

jessica....I know...I do too. I love you too!!

Sis. Julie said...

sis. connie...prayer is definitely a privilege and I try not to take it lightly. We are very honored to be able to fellowship with the most high God.!!

Sis. Julie said...

patriot...thank you for letting us know about the giveaway.

Sis. Julie said...

anna s...thank you for leaving a comment.

Sis. Julie said...

sis. deby....thank you for letting me know about Sis. Kristi's post. I read it and it is a blessing!!

CindyMae said...

Sis, this is such an excellent post. I use to struggle with my prayers not being real. Now, I thank God for the gift of prayer.

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