A Praying Life: Prayer Exposes.

"When we slow down to pray, we are immediately confronted with how unspiritual we are, with how difficult it is to concentrate on God.  We don't know how bad we are until we try to be good.  Nothing exposes our selfishness and spiritual powerlessness like prayer." - A Praying Life, pg. 31

This is so true of me!  As I mentioned in my last post on prayer, when I stop to pray, my mind soon wanders to my worries and to-do lists and distractions or - even worse - to how I'm doing with my prayer.  Prayer exposes me.  It's easier on me not to pray, in some ways, because I feel better about how I'm doing spiritually!


Miller's answer to this is so simple but so difficult to implement.  Jesus tells us to become like little children, and this command of Jesus definitely applies to prayer.  When we pray, we must become like a little child.  We must relate to God as we little children relate to their parents.

Miller reminds us that "little children never get frozen by their selfishness.  Like the disciples, they come just as they are, totally self-absorbed... [and parents] are delighted (most of the time!) to find out what is on their little hearts.  We don't scold them for being self-absorbed or fearful.  That is just who they are."

Little children don't try to fix themselves up before they come to their parents, or speak in just the right way.  They are bold and honest and real. They have snotty noses and they get their grammar wrong.

As a Christian, I know that I am redeemed only by God's grace and not by my own moral ability or spiritual merit.  This is the good news; this is the gospel.  But I often don't pray as if this is true.  Again, I try to fix myself up or "do it right" instead of coming to God in prayer just as I am, with my self-focused worries and wandering mind.  This is the real me.

"God didn't come for the righteous.  He came for sinners.  All of us qualify.  The very things we try to get rid of - our weariness, our distractedness, our messiness - are what get us in the front door!  That's how the gospel works.  That's how prayer works." - APL, pg. 33

But I need to be careful here.  This type of prayer isn't an excuse for constant, self-focused wallowing in my personal worries and daily pressures.  It also doesn't mean that God is not worthy of a healthy amount of fear and reverence. 

But this child-like prayer is the only way to a real relationship with God my Father.  And only this real relationship will unmask and expose "nests of cynicism, pride, and self-will" in me... And only this real relationship will change me and make me less selfish, cynical, and prideful.

It takes courage to pray like this.  It takes courage to come to God messy and to basically admit to Him and to myself that I'm not as "spiritual" or put together as I want to be or sometimes think I am.  But what freedom comes when I allow myself pray like a little child!  To pray like I really believe the gospel is true!