Call On Him... IN TRUTH!
Friday's Devotion (2-29-08)
"The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth." Psalm 145:8 (KJV)
It says the Lord is nigh (near,) to all that call upon Him... But you need to notice that this verse doesn't end there. It goes on to say to all that call upon Him in TRUTH! Truth being the keyword here. You can lie to yourself, but you cannot lie to God because God knows your heart, and if you try to lie to Him you'll get caught. When you call upon the Lord you better make sure your motives are right, make sure your heart is in the right place. If you're praying for someone who is sick to get better, then you better not be praying for it because they owe you money and when they're able to go back to work they would be able to pay you. You should be praying for them because you genuinely hope they'll get better, not because you have a motive behind it. There's so many ways we can lie in prayer, I can't even think of enough examples. But I think everyone gets the idea, if you're not praying in truth then you're not going to get results.
Some people pray in public just to be seen as "spiritual." God isn't going to bless those prayers. He isn't going to regard those prayers. That's blasphemy and like any other sin, there's a penalty to pay for lying to God. If you have lied to God then I would suggest you pray for forgiveness IN TRUTH. You better mean it when you say you're sorry to God. If I lied to God I would be doing a lot more than hoping not to get caught in the lie, because I would know that I was busted the moment I spoke it. Call on God in truth, use your heart to speak to God and not a script.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins as we forgive all those who've sinned against us. Please help us to be honest with you and with ourselves and others. In Jesus name. A-men!
God bless!