Dishonest prayer

Yesterday my brother-in-law said something more profound than he probably realized. We were talking about prayers, specifically, “grace” (blessing a meal) and how we so often just say a memorized prayer without really thinking. His comment was that we just weren’t being honest when we pray like that. He’s right. So many rote prayers have lost their meaning – we don’t even realize what we are praying anymore, thanking God when we aren’t really grateful… asking for something we probably don’t really want. (e.g., “Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful”… ever wonder what it looks like when God makes you truly thankful for something? What will he take away to accomplish that purpose?)

I am guilty of dishonest prayer. Often I want to pray (1) what I think God wants to hear or (2) what I think is the 'right' way to feel or (3) when praying aloud, what I think the other people in the room want or need to hear. How are we supposed to pray? Let’s face it, God knows exactly what is on our hearts and minds. Shouldn’t we really just be honest with God and tell Him what we are really thinking and feeling? I think I’ll take a few minutes in the next day or so to tell God how I’m feeling, to tell Him about some of my disappointments with how things are going right now, to thank him for my MANY blessings and to let Him know how grateful I am for his grace this Easter Sunday.

How can we get to know God if we aren’t even having honest communication with him?