Let me use transparency as a teaching aid for a moment. If confession is good for the soul, then my soul must be training for Bloomsday.
A couple weeks ago, I preached a Sunday morning sermon and at the end, I closed in prayer. In the prayer, I caught myself reviewing the major points from the sermon and rehashing the concluding challenge.
On Sunday afternoons, I like to "debrief". You know, like a football coach watching game films, looking for strengths and weaknesses. Studying to find out what worked and what didn't work.
Well, this is an amazing time for God to nudge me and point out areas in my life that He is taking issue with.
When God is taking issue with something in your life, it behooves you to pay attention.
The good Lord said, "Pastor Shane, you work for me. I know all. Period. There is nothing that gets by Me. Nothing surprises me or catches me off guard. So after preaching My message - that I gave you, and you close My message in prayer, asking My blessing on the message I gave you, why do you feel it necessary to do a slow motion replay and explain to me what you already said? I heard you the first time. If you are praying to Me, why does your prayer sound like a sermon summary for your congregation?"
My immediate replay was, "I don't know."
"Pastor Shane, are you praying to Me or are you using the closing prayer time as an teaching moment opportunity?"
Since the good Lord knows my heart and motivation, then I am sufficiently humbled.
My point is this, why do you pray?
Is prayer an opportunity for you to tell God how you want Him to handle something?
The bottom line is, prayer reveals your true belief about who God is.
Some people believe God is a fireman. They only pray to him where there is a fire and they need help.
Some people believe God is a genie. They believe that if they are good enough, that God will give them 3 wishes.
Some people believe God is like Santa. They make up a wish list and explain to God where they want their lottery ticket delivered to.
So what did Jesus teach about prayer:
"Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14
