God Wants Our Prayer

I will admit that the title this morning does not tell the whole story of my thoughts. I felt that what I really wanted the title to be was more of an oration/quote than a title, so I went with the simplicity of, “God Wants Your Prayer”.

“⁸The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD,

but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.”

— Proverbs 15:8 (ESV)

Above is what I really wanted to say. You see, God is not interested in receiving sacrifices. The practice was part of the law of the old covenant and when the veil was torn in two at the death of Christ on the cross, the old covenant was replaced. No longer were we dependent on acts done by us for salvation. Salvation was given thanks to the act done by God. In the old covenant, it was pretty common for someone to perform the act of sacrifice once per year to atone for the past year of wickedness.

Now, it may seem that the giving up of something would be acceptable to God and well, it is. The thing that I have to look at is the 4^th and 5^th words of the verse above, “the wicked” to know that where giving up something is acceptable, it is where it comes from that the LORD is looking at. Is it coming from the heart or from “the wicked”. Is it an act of dedication to the LORD or is it an act put on for all to see. God is more interested in that which comes from the heart than all the overt acts for all to see.

So, God wants our prayer more than He wants our sacrifice. He desires an honest conversation with those who love Him back, although He continues to love all regardless of the reciprocation. Notice in the 2^nd part of the verse above that it is “the upright” and their “prayer” that is acceptable, and not the gifts given to God by just anyone. It is the quiet, private conversation with Him that God is looking for from His children. He wants our petitions to Him coming from the heart and not from the head. Yes it makes logical sense to give something to get something in return, it is just that God does not “need” anything, He only wants to have all of me.

I do have to declare that I do not consider myself to be upright, I am only striving every day to be there. It is not for me to determine my standing with God, it is His. What I will say is that I can only work each day to meet the requirements of God and those are simple enough, as Jesus stated was the greatest commandment.

“³⁶’Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’³⁷And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” – Matthew 22:37-39 (ESV)

God wants our prayer. He wants it over anything else.

What are you trying to give to the LORD? Are you trying to give something to atone for something or to get something in return? What if you simply gave of our love to Him and opened your heart to receive as you gave God your prayer?