Being Real With God

Today when I was praying, I found myself asking God to help me be real with Him. I think sometimes I try too hard to say the right things when my heart isn’t where it should be and, as a result, I don’t allow myself to be real with God. As I think I’ve said in previous devotionals, prayer is just speaking to God, our HEAVENLY Father. Just as you would talk to your earthly father, we are to approach our dad in Heaven the same way. (I am reminding myself of this as well, because, as I have made known to you, I tend to forget this.)

Matthew 6:5 (New International Version) - "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”

It’s pretty cool that we can be real with God, because I know there are some of us who feel we can be real with only a select number of people in our lives. Often worried of what others think of us or being judged for who we are, we will shrink back and be who others want us to be. It is such a blessing to come humbly before God in prayer, knowing that we can come to Him as we are and He will love us just the same. Our Heavenly Father already knows what we have done, what we are doing, and what we will continue to do in the future, so there is no point in faking it.

We can see a great example of this kind of honesty played out in Psalm 13:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2013&version=NIV
This psalmist did not hold back from telling God exactly how they were feeling. Isn’t this usually the only way things ever get solved, anyway? …That is, through addressing an issue and being honest about it?

It’s so amazing that we serve a God who, even when we express our doubts and confusion, accepts us completely!! :)

Through experience, I have come to know that when we are completely honest with God, we will feel a lot closer to Him. This is similar to any friendship or relationship – When our friends are upfront and honest with us, we trust them and feel close to them. However, if we feel they are withholding things from us and not trusting us with certain information, we begin to feel distant from them. Whether we are mad at the Lord, don’t feel like praying, are having doubts, or any other case, let us use today to be real with God.

God bless!
♥ Shannon

“Trust” by Kristene Mueller
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_NJy8H7t4Q

For more on this topic, feel free to check out this article by Rick Warren:
http://www.purposedriven.com/article.do?method=articlePage&contentId=600001093