Sacrifice of Prayer

"I call to you, LORD, come quickly to me; hear me when I call to you. May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice."
Psalm 141:1-2

Sometimes we don’t take prayer seriously enough. Sometimes we use prayer to try and get what we want. For those of you who know me personally it is no secret that I really want a white, four-door - Toyota Tacoma pick-up. I have prayed for one to appear miraculously in my drive way. That is not what prayer is for. In today’s passage David wants his prayers to be like a sacrifice.

The dictionary provides a couple of definitions for the word ‘sacrifice’ that might help us with this idea of prayer as sacrifice. The first definition is: “A thing so surrendered or devoted” and the second is: “to surrender, or give up, or permit injury or disadvantage to, for the sake of something else.” These definitions seem to be talking about selfless acts. Now let me make myself clear – I am not trying to say that we should not pray for our personal needs, we should and God desires that we do. What I am saying is that it is the way that we pray that we need to consider.

Are we willing, as we pray for our needs to surrender them to God’s will? Are we prepared to recognize that He may and mostly likely does have something better in mind for us? Are we getting want confused with need? Are we willing to face a trial if it means something better in the long run?

What about our prayers for others? Are we willing to surrender our needs for someone else’s? Jesus prayed in the garden…yet not my will but Your will be done. I have said it before that is a scary thing to pray – that is a sacrifice of prayer.

During this season of Lent I am striving to offer a sacrifice of prayer, will you join me?

A prayer
Father – prayer is one of the ways we communicate with You, find fellowship with You, learn from You with. So often we use prayer to give you our shopping list – forgive us when we fail to make our prayers a sacrifice that is pleasing to you. Help us to surrender our needs and the needs of those for who we intercede to Your will. Thank you for hearing the prayers of Your servants may they be a pleasing to You. In the name of Jesus, Amen.