Love to hear from and know who is listening
Church Speak
Our father who art in heaven hallowed by thy name! Have you ever been in a church service, heard scripture read, and then wasn't really sure what it was that was said? Who really speaks in King James anyway? I don't address my family or friends by using phrases like, “What art thou doing this day?” Does it make you anxious to think you might be asked to read scripture or to pray publicly because your afraid you might not use the proper, “Church Speak?” I once had a foreign exchange student from Siberia Russia. She lived with us for a year. She had 4 years of schooling in English and when she arrived she was able to communicate with us okay unless I used some of my country redneck vocabulary. However, when she attended church with us she frequently had this blank stare on her face and had to ask me what was meant by what we said. Simply stated she didn't understand our “Church Speak!”
So this leads me to ask the question, “How should we talk with God?” Are your prayers more holy or more reverent if you pray in King James? Absolutely not!!! In Psalm 142 David is at a very low point in his life. Saul has decided the David is public enemy number one and he was using all his kingdoms resources to hunt him down and kill David. David was without home, without safety and with a bunch of outcasts in a remote cave, among his worst enemies, the Philistines. To say that things were bleak is an understatement. So how did David pray? Here is his pray from Psalm 142: 1-7
Psalm 142: 1-7 NIV I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble. When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watches over my way. In the path where I walk people have hidden a snare for me. Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. I cry to you, Lord; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.
If you listen closely to David's prayer you see it is brutely honest. David pours out his complaints and tells God all his troubles. He tells God, no one cares for him and he has no place left to hide. David says no one cares for his life and he cries out to God and says, “Listen to me God, I am in desperate need! I can tell you from my own personal experiences the times I felt closest to God as if he was right beside me listening to my every word were when I could barely speak intelligible. After each of my 2 sons died, the funerals were over and I was alone, I cried out to God using words that were not much more than grunts and groans, between breathes, as tears streamed down my face and my nose ran uncontrollably. I also had moments like this when my nephew Clinton was killed in a car accident.
Romans 8:26-27 NIV In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
So pray with all your heart and soul! Don't be afraid to tell God what is on your heart and mind because He already knows anyway. Our heavenly Father would rather hear your honest, wordless groans, then some wordy King James prayer!
