from the pastors at nvcf

another excerpt from six minutes of banter.

ok, so i have set up this thing so i could share some thoughts… but seriously, all my thoughts ran out of my brain the last few days, up until last night.

as i was prepping for a speaking engagement, i came across matthew 5:5 “and when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. truly i tell you, they have received their reward in full.”

wow.

first observation, i love that when JESUS speaks, he speaks with commas. not one or two, but many, many commas. he is not only the son of GOD and the son of man, but he is gifted in the pratice of using complex sentance structures and excellent oratory!

secondably, he is using this brief warning about prayer as a prelude to the o-so-famous “LORD’s prayer” (matt 5:9-13). which to me, is good news. i like short prayers. don’t get me wrong, i love chatting it up with our creator, but sometimes, i notice, when people, in a group setting or in front of people, tend to emotionalize and elongate one’s conversation with the LORD (noticed all those commas, i’m trying to be more like JESUS, one step at a time). now some are honestly pouring their heart out to GOD. but what JESUS is saying here in the scriptures, “…for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others…”, the they being the hypocrites, don’t pray for the sake appearance. don’t pray like the hypocrites. he also says, “truly i tell you, they have received their reward in full.” try this on for size… GOD is not going to honor a fake prayer. GOD is not going to honor an attempt to please man. and why should he?

GOD will honor the heart-felt, genuinely motivated, and utterly raw prayers. when you come to GOD, don’t doll yourself up, especially not for the sake of others.

come as you are.

come as GOD made you.

pray simply.

pray true.

-A