When it comes to prayer, there is a whole wide thing and emotions that one goes through when praying. From someone asking, “Who wants to pray?” and there being a long awkward silence, to trying to place yourself with the person who you think doesn’t have the sweatiest palms. But there are two things that have really stood out lately and I don’t know why.
When some people pray, they put “God” as a filler word. Let me explain, some people use these “filler words” in a place in the sentence where they are either thinking about what they are saying or use it when they pause. It is like using the words “um” or “like”, “Like, I don’t know, like, I just don’t know what to do anymore…um…”. In prayer I have noticed people use “God” as these “fillers”.
For example, “Father God, we praise you for the wonderful service we just had God. God we thank you for who you are Father God. We love you God, and God, we…um…God…Jesus…Thank you for dying for us God.”
I just think its funny because we would never do this with any of our friend’s names if we were talking to them. Could you imagine?
“Hey Kevin, how is it going Kevin? Kevin, thank you so much for doing that favor for me last week Kevin. Kev…um…Kevy….Kevin I just want to let you know I appreciate you Kevin for all you do Kevin.”
I just think its funny. We would never do that with a friend so why do we do that with God? Is it to seem more holy because we say His name more? Because doing it with people’s names just sound ridiculous. When we talk to God, we need to treat it as a conversation, because that is what prayer is, a conversation with God. Keep that in mind.
The other thing I noticed is that we say “just” in our prayers. We say “just” as in, “God will you just…”, “God will you just let tonight go well…Will you just heal my cat…Just do this and just do that” as if God has not done anything for us already. I know we just use it as a “filler” word, but the connotation means everything. Saying “God will you just…” is making us sound like we are forgetting that HE ALREADY HAS done the ultimate thing for us. He died for us.
We need to remember that we are not or ever be righteous. Jesus was fully righteous and pure. When he went up on the cross he provided us with the most important exchange in history. He traded our sins for His righteousness so that we may go before God and instead of God seeing our sinful selves He will see the righteousness of Christ Jesus instead.
So it’s not, “God, will you just…” as if we are deserving of anything that we are asking, but, “God, you did…” and we are thankful.
Hope this doesn’t throw you off, because now I bet you will start to notice these things more. You’re welcome.
It is something to notice and it has become a habit with a lot of people. I know I have been watchful of how I have been praying, to make it a little more meaningful and treat like I am speaking to God as if I WERE REALLY SPEAKING TO GOD.
First off, why must we critique the prayers of others? Who are we to say that a person thinks they are more holy if they say Gods name "too much" when praying? In doing that you are simply mirroring your own perspectives of the way you converse with God onto others. By all means, if you feel that it is hindering your relationship with God, hen stop saying His name alot when praying.
ReplyDeleteYou don't know peoples hearts, God does. Some people may use his name as a crutch when praying out loud, yes, because they feel self conscious about being judged for their praying (which this post does not help). Does this make them unrighteous? By no means. On the contrary, I would say that God is proud of them for praying aloud, and he does not mind at all that they are using his name as a source of comfort or as a crutch. Because our God is not a pridefuol God, but a God that loves us and wants to be in a relationship with us, even if we say his name a lot.
God knows our hearts and therefore I would say it is most likely trivial to him if we overuse His name. Yes it would be odd if you used my name in front of me a lot in conversation, but I am not God. Just cause it annoys you does not mean it annoys God; in saying that you bring him down to our level. Some people might use his name a bit excessivley as a verbal reminder of whom they are speaking with, whome they are conversing with.
Also, because God knows our hearts, using the word "just" again, is trivial. If we are praying, asking God for something like he calls us to do, then I can asure you that he is not bothered by the just. Yes, if our prayers are self centered in our hearts, and we never give him thanks, that is another issue, but using the word just as a thought crutch is trivial.
all in all it comes down to this. God has a unique relationship with each and every one of us. If Christ has the capacity to forgive our worst sins, I can assure you he loves us enough to recognize that we are cognativally imperfect and therefore have imperfect dialect. He knows our hearts and I would encourage you not to judge the prayers of anyone because you do not know their hearts.