Prayer

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable... The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people— Luke 18:9,11

Unacceptable prayers come from a proud heart. The self-righteous look down on others different from themselves and find pleasure in publicly praying about their moral inferiority. Yes, those who use their prayers to come at and devalue others are conceited in their own high mindedness. Prayer is not meant to flaunt a person’s faith, but to model the need for mercy, grace, love, provision, and the council of the Lord. Proud prayers focus on mankind, not on mankind’s creator. However, humility qualifies quality prayers.

We first prepare our hearts with humble submission to God through our worship, as worship aligns the heart with God, which automatically brings us to a place of humility. Our Heavenly Father looks for humility as an indicator of good and acceptable prayers. Time constraints push us to transactional prayers, while our Lord and Savior Jesus longs for relationally based prayers. Humble prayers engage in conversation with Christ, which listens most of the time if not the entire time. Our patient prayers enable us to remain in the presence of Jesus until we get to know Jesus.

The Lord reminds us that our righteous acts outside of Christ are like filthy rags. Only to the Cross do we cling, as we bring ourselves into the presence of God. He is the object of our worship. He is who we bow to in awe and adoration. He is who we cry out to for mercy, grace and forgiveness. He is who we petition in our pain. He is who we sit with silently in sweet surrender and trust. He is who loves and comforts us, so we can love and comfort others.

You may feel distant from God at times, but He invites you to come closer and feel His comforting presence. Moreover, sin doesn’t disqualify you for prayer, it qualifies you. It’s out of your weakness that He makes you strong, as His grace is suffiecient enough. It is out of your despair that He repairs your mind, will and emotions. Bring your successes and failures to the feet of Jesus as an offering of praise. He takes what is dedicated to Him and multiplies it for His glory. Humility prays acceptable prayers

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Rev. Todd A. Brown, Pastor
First Baptist of Chesterbrook
1740 Kirby Rd.  Mclean Va. 22101

Worship with us Sundays at 9:45am
Vision:" Disciples Making a Kingdom Impact"