Honest Prayer
The late Eugene Peterson (familiar with The Message Bible? That’s all him!) wrote this:
“It is easy to be honest before God with our hallelujahs.
It is somewhat more difficult to be honest in our hurts….
[But] we must pray who we actually are, not who we think we should be.”
That wisdom – that challenge – continues to rattle around in my brain.
What if you and I actually embraced that type of honesty in prayer?
What if you could tell God how you really feel?
The anger. The cynicism. The pride. The lust. The pain.
What if you could let go of pretending?
Pretending to have it together. Pretending to be something you’re not.
What if that’s actually what God wants from you?
Spoiler alert: that’s exactly what God wants from you.
God loves you. Not the idea of you. The real you.
Matthew 6:8 says that God knows our prayers before we even speak.
He already knows who you actually are – the good, the bad, the ugly.
And instead of running away, He sent His Son to bring you into the family.
He loves you where you’re at and promises not to leave you there.
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