Readings: Ps.4:1-3; 5:1-8; 27:7-12; 38:9-22; 142:1-7
Ps.142:2- "I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble.”
"What can I say when I pray?" Many believers in Christ quickly admit a personal sense of failure or neglect in prayer. They don't pray as often as they should--and they recognize their lack of discipline. When they pray, they speak forth fragmented thoughts which seem artificial and insufficient.
I don't always feel like praying. Sometimes when I pray, I feel clumsy. The words just don't seem to flow. But then, I remember to 'pray the Psalms' or I read the prayers in Neh.9 or Dan.9 before I pray. I commit myself to praying out loud if my silent prayer-thoughts begin to wander. And I bring to mind the reality that prayer is not about personal performance; my prayer life doesn't depend upon an ability to formulate logical or 'impressive' prayers, but upon the Supreme Name and Person of the Savior Who wants His disciples to pray.
If we worship God honestly, then our worship will involve poured out prayer. Our prayer times will convey our inmost thoughts to God and will reflect something of the perspective of Francois Fenelon.
Fenelon was a complicated and, at times, inconsistent man. In the late 1680s, he became enamored with the mystical writings of Madame Guyon; In 1696, Fenelon signed a document formally condemning Guyon's philosophies.
But, Fenelon was consistent when it came to compassion and a Biblical attitude about prayer. In 1697, after a house fire destroyed his library and manuscripts he was working on, he said to a friend: "I had rather the fire had seized my house than a poor man's cottage." And, Fenelon wrote these statements concerning poured out prayer:
Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one's heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you to conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them; show Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability. Tell Him how self-love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself as to others.
If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, and troubles, there will be no lack of what to say.
Ps.142:2- "I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble.”
"What can I say when I pray?" Many believers in Christ quickly admit a personal sense of failure or neglect in prayer. They don't pray as often as they should--and they recognize their lack of discipline. When they pray, they speak forth fragmented thoughts which seem artificial and insufficient.
I don't always feel like praying. Sometimes when I pray, I feel clumsy. The words just don't seem to flow. But then, I remember to 'pray the Psalms' or I read the prayers in Neh.9 or Dan.9 before I pray. I commit myself to praying out loud if my silent prayer-thoughts begin to wander. And I bring to mind the reality that prayer is not about personal performance; my prayer life doesn't depend upon an ability to formulate logical or 'impressive' prayers, but upon the Supreme Name and Person of the Savior Who wants His disciples to pray.
If we worship God honestly, then our worship will involve poured out prayer. Our prayer times will convey our inmost thoughts to God and will reflect something of the perspective of Francois Fenelon.
Fenelon was a complicated and, at times, inconsistent man. In the late 1680s, he became enamored with the mystical writings of Madame Guyon; In 1696, Fenelon signed a document formally condemning Guyon's philosophies.
But, Fenelon was consistent when it came to compassion and a Biblical attitude about prayer. In 1697, after a house fire destroyed his library and manuscripts he was working on, he said to a friend: "I had rather the fire had seized my house than a poor man's cottage." And, Fenelon wrote these statements concerning poured out prayer:
Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one's heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you to conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them; show Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability. Tell Him how self-love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself as to others.
If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, and troubles, there will be no lack of what to say.
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