{"id":22561,"date":"2014-10-30T00:20:26","date_gmt":"2014-10-30T04:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=22561"},"modified":"2014-10-29T19:04:21","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T23:04:21","slug":"perfect-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/10\/30\/perfect-prayers\/","title":{"rendered":"Perfect Prayers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Answer me when I call to You, O God who declares me innocent.
\nFree me from my troubles.
\nHave mercy on me [be gracious to me] and hear my prayer.
\nPsalm 4:1 NLT<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I like the simplicity of David\u2019s prayer. \u00a0Reminds me of a Max Lucado devotional entitled, Prayer\u2019s Aren\u2019t Graded<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus downplayed the importance of words in prayers. We tend to do the opposite. The more words the better! We emphasize the appropriate prayer language, the latest prayer trend, the holiest prayer terminology. Against all this emphasis on syllables and rituals, Jesus says in Matthew 6:7: ‘Don\u2019t ramble like heathens who talk a lot.’ \u00a0There\u2019s no panel of angelic judges with numbered cards.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love the line \u201cThere\u2019s no panel of angelic judges with numbered cards<\/em>.\u201d Sometimes we pray like we think there is. God doesn\u2019t count our words or measure our syntax. He doesn\u2019t edit our grammar. God looks at our heart<\/strong>. \u00a0As the Scriptures tell us:<\/p>\n

Man does not see what the Lord sees, for man sees what is visible,
\nbut the Lord sees the heart.
\n1 Samuel 16:7b (HCSB)<\/p>\n

For You look deep within the mind and heart, O righteous God.
\nPsalm 7:9b (NLT)<\/p>\n

In this verse David used only a few words, but he prayed with passion. \u00a0David\u2019s prayer came from deep within his heart. \u00a0Take a look at James 5:16b (AMP):<\/p>\n

The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man
\nmakes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t say the \u2018perfect\u2019 prayer. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t say the prayer of 100 words or more. \u00a0It says the \u201cearnest (heartfelt, continued)<\/em>\u201d prayer. \u00a0God already knows what is on your heart. \u00a0He just wants you to share it with Him. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t really matter how you share it, as long as you do share it with Him. \u00a0Even if you can\u2019t put it into words or express it verbally. \u00a0Romans 8:26 (AMP) states:<\/p>\n

So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness;
\nfor we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought,
\nbut the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf
\nwith unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.<\/p>\n

Prayer doesn\u2019t have to be fancy. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t have to be perfect. \u00a0It just needs to be heartfelt. \u00a0It needs to be uttered with passion. \u00a0Even if it is only to call His name \u2013 Jesus<\/em>! \u00a0God honors fervent prayers by being merciful and gracious to us.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 \u271e \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 * <\/span><\/p>\n

Holy Father, I am so thankful my prayers do not have to be perfect to be heard. You know what is in my heart and You long for me to share it with You. \u00a0Thank You for the intimacy prayer brings. \u00a0Thank You for the mercy and grace you extend to me, undeserving as I am. \u00a0May I lift up my requests to You with heartfelt passion. \u00a0In Your Holy name I pray, Amen \u2013 It Is So!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Answer me when I call to You, O God who declares me innocent. Free me from my troubles. Have mercy on me [be gracious to me] and hear my prayer. Psalm 4:1 NLT I like the simplicity of David\u2019s prayer. \u00a0Reminds me of a Max Lucado devotional entitled, Prayer\u2019s Aren\u2019t Graded: \u201cJesus downplayed the importance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[1363,5889,3367,7637,1287,425,7661,7665,7662,7664,5046,7660,5275,3174,7663],"class_list":["post-22561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-1-samuel-167","tag-cynda-cottrill","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-earnest-prayer","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-god-looks-at-the-heart","tag-heartfelt-prayers","tag-max-lucado","tag-passionate-prayers","tag-psalm-41","tag-psalm-79","tag-romans-826","tag-seeking-him-devotional","tag-simple-prayers","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-5RT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22561"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22563,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22561\/revisions\/22563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}