We Keep Our Confessions Long And When We Pray, We Keep It Short...

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:1-10) I have 3 cousins, the youngest of which is 6. Anytime we have a large family meal or holiday, being from a large Southern Baptist family, we gather everyone together and ask God to bless our family, friends, and food. Every single time that we go to say this blessing, my youngest cousin volunteers to pray on our behalf. It always goes something like this: "God our father (God our father) once again (once again) thank you for your blessings (thank you for your blessings), Amen (Amen)." Obviously, at his age it's more of a game or a desire for attention. He probably doesn't really much of a desire to truly understand God or understand the blessings he has received from him. Just tossing words to the sky. Now, I'm not saying this to mock my 6-year-old cousin, because, honestly, he's as cute as can be and he is well on his way to breaking some hearts (with some Godly instruction). I put that out there because a good portion of the times when I pray, I am putting about the same amount of heart into it. I will go through entire days without thinking about talking to God so, out of guilt, I will toss some words to the sky. I will feel convicted about something, and, out of guilt, I will toss some words to the sky. I will get into my car or pull up at work and realize that the day is about to be crappy, so, out of horrible selfishness, I will toss some words to the sky. It's awful. I give my Restorer less time, in a normal week, than I do my Mom, or Daniel, or Death Cab For Cutie, or Evan Williams, or J. R. Reynolds, or Tony Hawk, or Wes Anderson. The majority of these people have done nothing to help me (other than the gift of distraction). I'm getting off track a bit, the point is, I usually only really, really, honestly pray when my ass is on the line or my interests are being tampered with. I pray out of my own selfish desires. This is the majority of the time. It's not like I will never pray for other people or for people groups, but I have never really set out to make prayer a communal thing. Honestly, that seems to have to be the point of prayer. If we are to lift each other up and bear each other's burdens, then surely when we pray, we should ask for the uplifting and constant refreshing of the Kingdom community. This is where the Heart of God lives, His children seeking His desires and seeking the best for everyone around them. Moreover, it would seem that this sort of prayer would require some sort of action on our part. As Sam has brought up many times over the past few weeks, we cannot simply tell someone in need that we will pray for them and to be on their way with God's Blessings. We must be sure that to the best of our abilities, their needs are met. Does this mean that we overlook our own needs? Possibly, the Son Of Man had no place to lay his head. I'm not saying to neglect the body or beat it into submission, I am suggesting that we constantly put other's need above our own. You know, whenever my cousin sings that prayer before our family meals, his dad never looks at him with disdain or anger. He never calls him a moron or tells him to go to his room. He looks at him with a loving smile, and says, "Good job, Buddy." I'm sure that I have reached a point of spiritual maturity, where I shouldn't be getting a "good job, Buddy" from God, but I hope that when I pray, there is a patient smile on the face of God and the understanding that I might catch on...someday. I