Sunday, July 03, 2016

Uncomplicated Prayer by Rose McCormick Brandon

Religious teachings often complicate the simple act of prayer. For example, I have booklet that tells how to pray perfect prayers. Predictably, each of the nine points in it begin with the letter "P."
Books like this can be helpful, I guess. But not to me. I've already been down the complicated prayer road. I found it cumbersome and disappointing and I won't travel that way again.
Jesus taught the simplicity of prayer. We see this in the first few verses of Matthew 6. What he said boils down to three simple truths:
He sees us
He hears us
He answers us
We don't need the "right" words. We don't need a team of pray-ers but it's fine to ask others to pray. And it's marvellous to join a large group where everyone is in agreement.
There's no right volume, tone of voice or vocabulary for prayer.
We don't need to be "somebody" in the religious world for God to answer our prayers.
No one has God's attention more than another. The Father wants us to speak to him honestly from our hearts. He's listening.
"Your Father who sees you in your secret place will reward you in public." Matt. 6:5
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Rose McCormick Brandon is the author of One Good Word Makes all the Difference and Promises of Home - Stories of Canada's British Home Children. She writes personal essays and devotionals for several publications.

3 comments:

Lux G. said...

Amen to that!

Peter Black said...

Brief, incisive and clear. Thanks Rose. Yes, it's the heart's cry - that which comes our spiritual core - that Father God sees, hears and answers. ~~+~~

Glynis said...

Goodness - a tidy and important message. Thanks for this, Rose. It's a little sad when people say they don't know how to pray. If we know how to speak, we know how to pray. And even then, prayers can be of the silent variety - my 'pray without ceasing' prayers are like that (silent). Otherwise I might be locked up! ;)

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