The sincere prayer

"The Lord is near all who call upon him, of all who call on him with sincerity" (Psalm 145: 18).

This verse abundantly illuminates the question : "How to pray ?". The prayer to which God responds is sincere prayer, prayer that requires something truly desired.

Many prayers are devoid of sincerity. We ask for things we do not want.

More than one woman is praying for her husband's conversion when she does not really want her husband to be converted. She thinks she desires it, but if she knew what her husband's conversion would involve, in terms of financial honesty, for example, the true prayer of her heart might be, if it were sincere before God : "O God, do not do not convert my husband !". The desire to convert is less than the weight of financial comfort.

More than one church praying for an awakening does not really want it. Its members believe it to be desirable because, in their eyes, an awakening means a numerical increase, an increase in offerings, a greater renown among the churches. But if they knew what a true awakening was and how professing Christians would probe their own hearts, if they knew what radical transformation of individual, domestic, and social life would involve revival, and many other things still that would not fail to occur if the Spirit of God was really poured out with power, then the sincere cry of the church would be rather : "O God, save us from an awakening !".

But when we come to truly desire and at any cost the conversion of our friends, the shedding of the Holy Spirit whatever it may be, the baptism of the Holy Spirit whatever may happen, when we desire something "With sincerity" and that we cry to God for it "with sincerity", then surely God hears us.

Jeremy Sourdril