Say What You Need To Say

Guest post by Doug Wolter

Why do we make prayer so hard? Why do we think so much about doing it the right way and saying the right thing? Why do we overspiritualize it?

What if we could remember that we're actually talking with a Person -- One who knows us personally and intimately? And what if we could just come like little children and go right up to our Father and say what we need to say?

I've listened to messages where the speaker has said something like, "We shouldn't waste our time praying about trivial little things because that's not the purpose of prayer. Prayer is about glorifying God and being with God. It's not about asking God for anything and everything 24/7."

Please hear me. I'm not advocating a me-centered, get me out trouble, selfish kind of prayer life that even pagans can practice. I'm talking about prayer as a relationship where he is glorified as I talk to him and depend on Him for everything. Listen to what Paul Miller writes about in his book, A Praying Life. He says,

Overspiritualizing prayer suppresses our natural desires ... When we stop being ourselves with God, we are no longer in real conversation with God ... If we ask nothing of God, we are left adrift in an evil world. Such a position may feel spiritual because it seems unselfish, but it is unbiblical because it separates the real world of our desires from God's world.

To say it briefly, we can't disconnect our prayer life from real life. That means there is nothing too small to bring before God and nothing too mundane in God's world that He does not care about. He is sovereign and he is personal. And He invites us to become like children in prayer.

So be yourself before God. Pray without ceasing. Say what you need to say. (And if you must, sing John Mayer's song by the same title as you go!)