My goal each time I post something on twitter or facebook is that someone else might be encouraged as I share what God is teaching me about who He is and how to follow Him.
Because of this, for the past few days I have posted a prayer that grows out how God has spoken to me that morning during my devotional time with Him.
This prayer is sometimes raw and always very personal.
This morning my prayer was “Father, may none of my connection to You be severed today by my disconnection with another of Your children.
The passage God spoke to me through was Matthew 5:23-24
23 “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.”
This morning God reminded me that I can come to church and sing and rise my hands and serve and even believe that I have “felt Him presence.” But if I know there is someone who has something against me, God will not be pleased with my “worship” regardless of how I feel.
I always put my morning prayer in a place where I can see it and pray it throughout the day.
I realized this afternoon that my prayer could be interpreted as asking God to keep me connected to Him even though I am ignoring my disconnection from others. This is impossible and the opposite of what Jesus said (which of course, is the definition of false doctrine).
As I examined my prayer, I realized this afternoon it might have been a bit Freudian (if I’m allowed to talk about Freud and prayer in the same sentence).
As I thought about this I realized that I would rather rationalize why someone has something against me and hope God will overlook our disunity.
My rationalizations usually include:
- “I didn’t do anything wrong”
- “They were the ones who misunderstood me
- “This was a result of their immaturity”
- <Insert your favorite rationalization here>
It you want to worship… go and be reconciled.
