Came across these thoughts of John Newton on prayer over at THE RESURGENCE blogsite. He highlights several hinderances and faults of public prayer and then relates this one that is a personal one to me and which often I find grates me as I pray with people, or am at a prayer meeting. We are by no means to judge each others prayers, but there are certain things that we must understand about God as we pray to Him that may affect how we do it. Here are Newton's thoughts:
Informality in Prayer
"... and still more offensive, is a custom that some have of talking to the Lord in prayer. It is their natural voice indeed, but it is that expression of it which they use upon the most familiar and trivial occasions. The human voice is capable of so many inflections and variations, that it can adapt itself to the different sensations of the mind, as joy, sorrow, fear, desire, etc. If a man was pleading for his life, or expressing his thanks to the king for a pardon, common sense and decency would teach him a suitableness of manner; and anyone who could not understand his language might know by the sound of his words that he was not making a bargain or telling a story. How much more, when we speak to the King of kings, should the consideration of his glory and our own vileness, and of the important concerns we are engaged in before him, impress us with an air of seriousness and reverence, and prevent us from speaking to him as if he was altogether such an one as ourselves! The liberty to which we are called by the gospel does not at all encourage such a pertness and familiarity as would be unbecoming to use towards a fellow-worm, who was a little advanced above us in worldly dignity."
Who is it we are praying to and how should that affect the way we speak to him??
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