Getting Real

Getting Real

Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.

Psalm 62:8

Once when I was a new Christian and attending a prayer group, I was fascinated with how differently some of the people prayed. Some prayed loudly, and a few wept as they prayed. Several prayed in a language I’d never heard, which seemed very spiritual and mysterious. So I asked an older, wiser man I knew, who’d been walking with Christ for many years, “Will God hear me better if I pray like these people? Do I need to pray in a prayer language too?”

He answered gently, “God just wants to hear from you. Be honest, be yourself, and pour out your heart to him.” What good advice. Although you and I may have people in our churches or families we want to imitate because they are good role models, most of all God wants us to be honest and be ourselves, just the way he created us. That kind of honesty deepens our friendship with him. He doesn’t want us to emulate other people’s prayer jargon or adopt their prayer style because we think they “sound better” than we do.

The Lord has given you a distinct personality and heart, and he loves to have you express them. He made your voice, and just as I love to hear my sons’, daughter’s, and grandchildren’s voices, God loves to hear yours—in whatever language you speak to him—because you are his child, accepted and beloved. You don’t have to sound like your minister, your Bible study leader, or a more spiritually mature friend when you come to God. Come as you are. He is waiting to bless you and show you his love. —CHERI

Forgive me, Lord, when I use clichés or expressions I’ve heard others use instead of just telling you what’s really on my heart. I come to you today, just as I am, to pour out my thanks, my problems, and my fears.

Human personality and individuality written and signed by God on each human countenance . . . is something altogether sacred, something for the resurrection, for eternal life.

—LEON HENRI MARIE BLOY (1846–1917), FRENCH NOVELIST, ESSAYIST, AND POET