Familiarity breeds contempt. The better we know people, the more likely we are to find fault with them. The reason this phrase exists isn’t to dissuade us from getting to know people better; for without deep relationships our lives would be vast, meaningless voids. Rather, the purpose is to provide a gentle reminder that as we get to know someone better we will have to work hard to not take them for granted. This principle applies not only to our relationships with other people but to our relationship with God as well.
As a minister I’m publicly seen as being “on God’s team”, as it were. The downside of this is that sometimes I find myself in a position where I need to be reminded that I deserve God no more than anyone else. Over the past 5 years since entering full time ministry I’ve grown very close to God. But there are many times that I take Him for granted, and sometimes the familiarity has made it difficult to keep my prayers as they ought to be. I have to ask myself, “What drives my prayers?”
Many of us struggle with knowing if we want what God wants or what we want. We can’t decide which we want more! This vacillation between what we want and what God wants tends to show itself in our prayers. Let me ask you this: when was the last time God interrupted your prayer time to share with you what’s on His heart? For most of us, prayer isn’t prayer; it’s more like a one-way letter. Let’s not allow our prayers to become one-way telegram to God. Let’s make sure to listen in our prayer life as well as share with God what’s on our minds and hearts.
What drives your prayers? Is it a desire only to tell God what you want? Or is it also a desire to also hear what God has in mind for you?
