Sincere Prayer

Yesterday I spent most of my afternoon doing what I typically do this time of year, watching NASCAR on television.  One of the things I like most about the sport is that many of the drivers are Christians.  Every week before they start the race they take a moment to honor our military, perform the national anthem, and pray.  They usually recruit someone from the local community to lead the prayer.  Sometimes the person leading the prayer reads it from a card or piece of paper.  Yesterday was one of those days.

I have mixed feelings about this practice.  I know that some people get stage fright and may not want to screw up on national television.  Therefore they write down and read their prayer as a safety net.  I'm not crazy about that idea and would rather they just speak from the heart.  But I can live with it if they are speaking in an attitude of humility and that their words were penned with an attitude of sincerity and intercession for others.

But that's just it, prayer is something that is personal and from the heart.  It is you communicating with the God who spoke the universe into existence.  It is a conversation that, like any other conversation, should be sincere and not forced, dry, regimented or hollow.  Too many times our prayers are filled with trite sayings or phrases that we have heard others say or read in a book.  These sayings may sound good and appear to make our prayers more dynamic, but if they do not pour out of a humble, sincere, and true place in our heart then they carry no weight, no purpose and no meaning what so ever.

My pastor spoke a few weeks ago about this subject and I think he spoke with great wisdom and truth.  Our prayers are our opportunity to commune with God, to tell him the depths of our hearts, to intercede for others and to grow closer to him.  If we do nothing more than repeat the words of someone else or offer up over used phrases, then we are missing out and miss using a powerful opportunity.  God cares about the details of our lives just as we care about the details of the lives of our own children.  He desires to have sincere, deep, meaningful relationships with us.  So how is your prayer life?  Is it just hollow words that you fit in a convenient slot in your schedule?  Or do you spent time in an attitude of humbleness, sincerity, and honesty before God, seeking him, interceding for others, and trying to make a difference?