The Honest Prayer

Have you ever heard a child pray?

It's one of the most beautiful sounds.  Even people who don't pray or believe much in its effectiveness are often touched by the sweetness of a praying child.  There is an innocence about it.  There is a sincerity in it.  We know there is no hidden agenda in their prayers.  We know they are not trying to manipulate.  We love its purity.  We admire its vulnerability. We are moved by its honesty and absence of pretense.

 

We may even secretly envy it because deep in our hearts we long for this kind of communication with our Heavenly Father.  Their prayers are like a song that our hearts want to sing along with -- the melody of the Secret Place.  As we listen, we may find ourselves drawn in.  We might begin to let our guard down.  We might begin to believe -- again, or maybe for the first time in our lives.

 

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Jesus said, "Come." And He said it to all -- young and old.  He didn't require the children to wait first, gain knowledge, learn how to 'pray the right way' and then come.  He simply told them, "Come." And the children did.   And Jesus made an example of them.  He said, "Come like children."

 

What if you literally were to do that?  What if even right now, as you are reading this, you were to listen to His call and just come like a child?

 

Jesus is simply saying to all of us, "Just talk to me. Don't worry about what you sound like, what you look like, what you think you're hiding from Me or what you don't understand about Me. Be concerned with only one thought: 'I have a Father in Heaven that loves me and hears me.' Know that I already fully accept you because of the Cross. There is nothing off limits in what we can discuss. And even if you have no words to say, that's okay, too. Just direct your heart toward me in trust and lean into My Arms."

 

Prayer is not about eloquent words.  Prayer is about your honest heart connecting with your Loving Daddy.  And just as we melt when we hear a child pray, so our Heavenly Father melts when He hears you.