A short time ago, I was amazed as I spoke to a friend concerning prayer. It wasn’t amazing that we spoke about prayer. What surprised me was her take on prayer. She’s a good Roman Catholic woman who found herself in a life and death situation. She said something like, “I couldn’t even say an ‘Our Father.’ I didn’t know what to do, so I just poured out my heart to God.”

It was hard for me to imagine that, prior to that moment, she’d never considered “pouring out your heart to God” as prayer.

Now, I understand the importance of The Lord’s Prayer (Our Father). I always felt that saying it is a personal expression of my faith, just as reciting a love poem to my sweetheart is an expression of my love. But imagine that all your lover ever did was recite poetry to you. And imagine that the poetry he or she recited was always the same one or the same ones. How would that feel?

I believe God’s looking for you to pour your heart out to him regularly — in your own words, with your own thoughts.

This message, delivered at my church on August 7, 2005, expresses that thought. A podcast of it is here. The complete outline for this message is available on request. Email me for details.

Under God’s Grace,
Steve

Podcast: Play in new window | Download