One morning at the breakfast table a father asked God’s blessing on the food as usual. In pious and exalted language he thanked the Lord for all His bountiful provisions. But when he started eating, he grumbled about the poor quality of the food and complained about the way it was cooked. His teenager interrupted him.
“Dad,” she began, “do you think God heard your prayer?”
“Certainly,” he replied confidently.
“And did He also hear when you complained about the bacon and coffee just now?” she asked.
“Why, of course!” he bellowed. “Then which of your statements did God believe?” The flush on his cheeks made it obvious that her discerning question had hit home.
James 3:10
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Sometimes our prayers are nothing more than empty words or words of habit. Our children growing up would pray the same prayer at the dinner table it went like this~ "Thank you Jesus for our food. Amen." We would gently remind them that God wanted them to talk to Him as they talked with us. We too can be guilty of mouthing words off the top of our heads instead of talking to our Heavenly Father from the bottom of our hearts. We can tend to pray public prayers of beautiful words while our private prayers can be anemic and trite.
God deserves a relationship with His children. What if our children talked to us how we talked to our Father? Would our hearts be joyful or would we be broken hearted? I never want to break my Heavenly Father's heart with being ungrateful in word or deed.
For words without the heart
The Lord will never hear,
Nor will He to those lips attend
Whose prayers are not sincere. —Burton
The Lord will never hear,
Nor will He to those lips attend
Whose prayers are not sincere. —Burton
It’s not enough to say a prayer—we have to live it too.
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