Pray Cliche? No Way!

Dodger:  Hello again!  It sure is great to see you today!  Has life treated you well recently?

Lilly:  I hope it has.  I can't believe July is almost over.  It went by so fast!

Dodger:  You said it.

Lilly:  So...what are we talking about today?

Dodger:  To be honest, I don't know.  We have no messages in the inbox, and I can't think of anything I myself want to ask.

Lilly:  Hmmm... me neither.  Well, since neither of us can think of anything pressing, let's dive right in!

Dodger:  Beg pardon?

Lilly:  Well, usually we talk about the Bible.  Let's do that!

Dodger:  Okay.  Don't we need a starting point, though?  Something to discuss in the Bible or that the Bible can help with?

Lilly:  Sure.  Let's discuss David.

Dodger:  Huh?

Lilly:  You know, King David.

Dodger:  Oh.  We talked about him last week, right?

Lilly:  We did.

Dodger:  He was a man of many talents, right?

Lilly:  Indeed.  Not only was he a king, he'd also been a shepherd, a prophet, a songwriter, warrior, giant-killer, and even harp player for the previous king, that is, Saul.

Dodger:  He was a pretty impressive guy.

Lilly:  Exactly.  You know what's most interesting about him, though?

Dodger:  What?

Lilly:  He was close to God.  He knew how to talk to God and usually how to listen.  However, he wasn't the inventor of the perfect prayer.

Dodger:  The "perfect prayer"?  What do you mean?

Lilly:  Oh you know, the prayer that talks to God without actually telling Him anything about what's on our mind or if anything's bothering us or anything else we'd like Him to know.  It's that prayer we give when we want to sound good to God.

Dodger:  Oh.  So, something like this?

Now I lay me down to sleep.

I'm happy that I don't eat sheep.

I hope I'm happy when I wake.

And thank you God, for sirloin steak!

Lilly:  Um...well, not quite.  You sort of got the idea, though.

Dodger:  Okay.

Lilly:  David liked to pray what was on his heart and mind.  Some of these prayers are preserved in Psalms for us.  He didn't try to hide behind what he thought God wanted to hear.  If his prayers rhymed, they might sound more like this.

Lord, I know that You are great.

Yet I have problems that I hate.

I need Your help to get on through.

Please help me. Oh, God, where are you?

Okay, so maybe not quite like that.  You see the difference, though.

Dodger:  Sort of.  Let's look at one of his Psalms.  I'd like to see what it says.

Lilly:  Okay.  Can you read Psalm 13?

Dodger:  Here goes:

"How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and hear me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes,
Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Lest my enemy say,
“I have prevailed against him”;
Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

But I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me. (Psalm 13, NKJV)

Lilly:  You don't hear many prayers like that.

Dodger:  I'll say!  It almost sounded like he was accusing God of ditching him!

Lilly:  No, not accusing.  Questioning.  You have to remember that David wrote these songs to speak to God and not to impress Him.  He's asking a question because he feels alone.  Even though it's not true, because God is always with us, we can sometimes feel like God is hiding from us.

Dodger:  Oh, I see now.  That makes more sense.  What's all that stuff about his enemies?

Lilly:  He didn't want them to win, so he asked God to help him overcome his difficulty and keep his enemies from harming him in his time of trouble.

Dodger:  Okay.  What about the last part?  He seems to change his mood at the end.  Did God save him before he finished writing the song?

Lilly:  Maybe, but I think it's more like this.  After he got through his frustration and requests, he took time to remember what God had done for him in the past and how good God is.  He let out his emotion which was caused by his current siuation, then praised God for helping with situations in the past.  You see, David knew that in the worst times, God is still good, and no matter how bad things got for him, he always relied on that fact.  He remembered to thank God for helping Him before and expectantly awaited his deliverance.  The Psalms are not David just whining.  They are him talking to God as everyone should- with sincerity and faith.

Dodger:  So what can we take from this?  Is David's prayer a formula for us?

Lilly:  By no means!  God doesn't want our prayers to be made from a formula.  Instead, we ought to pray based on what's really happening in our minds, in our lives, and in our hearts.  He listens and He cares, but He will never just barge in on us.  We have to invite Him to make a difference in our lives, and that means telling Him what we need, praising Him for His goodness, and relying on Him at all times.

Dodger:  In other words, David was open with God, and we should be, too.

Lilly:  Exactly!

Dodger:  Wow.  That means I can talk to Him about anything?

Lilly:  At all.

Dodger:  About my hobbies?

Lilly:  Sure!

Dodger:  My cats?

Lilly:  If you want to.

Dodger:  The fact that I can't stand mosquitoes?

Lilly:  Go for it.  If you'd share it with a friend, share it with God.  Check that.  If you wouldn't share it with a friend you should still share it with God.  Never think that God doesn't want to hear anything you have to say.  He spends loads of time thinking about You, and would love for you to invite Him into not just a corner, but the entire whole, of your life.

Dodger:  Maybe you've never invited God in at all.  If you'd like to, now's your chance.  If you want a relationship with God, eternal life with Him, and salvation from your sins, there's good news for you.  Each of us has messed up.  Not one of us can claim to have done the right thing every time.  Not me, not Lilly, not any regular person on earth. That may not sound good, but the good part is that God sent His Son, Jesus, Who was both man and God , to live a wrongdoing-free life and die on a wooden cross for our sins.  He raised Him on the third day, and now Jesus sits at His Father's right hand.  The choice is yours.  Will you take His offer?  He loves you enough to do all that and more for you.  If you'd like to accept Him as Lord and Savior, you could pray something like this:

            Dear God, I'm a sinner who has done wrong.  I don't deserve You or Your presence, and I've fallen short of Your glory.  However, I believe that You sent Your Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for my sins, and that You raised Him on the third day.  I confess my faith in You, God, as Lord and Savior.  I ask that You would come into my heart, Lord Jesus.  Thank You very much.  I love You, God.  In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Lilly:  If you prayed that and meant it in your heart, congratulations and happy birthday!  You're now a new person in Christ Jesus!  Tell an adult you trust about your decision, and keep talking to God.  He's always listening.  Also, you should get a Bible.  If you don't have one yet, here's a free one you can access on the internet!

Dodger:  Thank you so much for coming by and talking to us today.  I love it when you visit.

Lilly:  Me too.

Dodger:  Well, looks like we have to go again.  I hope you have a wonderful week!  Remember, Jesus loves you, and that's not about to change!

Lilly:  Galu!

(NKJV Means New King James Version)
Lilly's signoff is elvish for "goodbye!", but you Lord of the Rings fans probably knew that.