Untitled Sermon

The Cry of the Heart

Prayer that is spontaneous and unedited

These are the prayers that just happen. They’re spontaneous and informal. They happen anytime anywhere.

I’m generally cautious of anyone saying “Here’s 12 steps to your prayers getting answered” or “This person found out 5 secrets to effective prayer! Satan hates him!” [Make graphics for this] The Bible never gives us a manual on prayer. The closest we get is the Lord’s Prayer. What the Bible does give us is stories of people praying from which we can draw out principles and patterns. All I’m saying is try it out. If it works, great! If it doesn’t, adjust and go from there.

The Cry of the Heart

They’re usually a gut-reaction. Many of the Psalms read like this. Remember: this isn’t an official genre but it’s a helpful label for what we see.

These are the prayers that just happen. They’re spontaneous, informal, usually a gut-reaction. Many of the Psalms read like this. Remember: this isn’t an official genre but it’s a helpful label for what we see.

These prayers are honest.

First thing that sticks out to me is how much these prayers resonate. They’re honest. They’re so real. Less like “You’re a good, good father” and more like “Hey! Life sucks down here! I need you to do something!” David isn’t trying to top the Christian charts. He doesn’t have to appeal to the masses. He’s just being honest where he’s at with God and that resonates. It’s like that scene in the Incredibles:

“What are you waiting for?”

“I don’t know. Something amazing, I guess.”

“Me too, kid.”

It hits you. Reading these psalms is like that.

If someone prayed like that in church, we’d think they were on something.

It’s honest but it’s authentically honest. It’s unedited. That sounds redundant but it’s not. You can be honest but still dress it up. “It’s hardly worth mentioning but my enemies want to kill me 24/7” vs. “Hey God! Where you at? I’m dying down here!”

That’s the great thing about this prayer. It doesn’t require practice. There’re no lines to memorize. You just have to turn the editor off and let it out.

When’s the last time you prayed like this?

But here’s the thing: as much as we value authenticity in our culture, we’re uncomfortable praying like this.

Instagram Prayers

Instead we pray Instagram prayers. You guys know what I’m talking about. You get twenty photos and then you pick the one with the perfect lighting and perfect angle and where your smile doesn’t look weird. After that, you have to get the contrast and saturation right and come up with a good caption. The final product isn’t really us. It doesn’t give a real look at our lives. We also pray like that.

We do this because we don’t see God as a father or friend. We see him like a grumpy boss.

You know how you can tell how deep someone’s relationship is with another person? By how comfortable they are farting in front of each other. Farting in front of boss vs. farting in front of dad.

The Cry of the Heart is like the fart of prayers. It’s spontaneous. It’s natural. But for some reason we’re really embarrassed by it. We’re uncomfortable being that real and that honest with God. But we don’t have to be! David expresses all these emotions. We’d call him a basket case, but God calls him a man after his own heart. Even Jesus prays like this. says During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.

God isn’t indifferent to our cries. He isn’t defensive at our frustration. He made you with those emotions. He invented emotions. I’m pretty sure he can handle it if they come up while you’re praying.

How do you view the one you’re praying to [God]? What would change in your prayers if you viewed him the way the Bible wants to convince us we should?

Stop tip-toing and strut

Here’s the thing: most of us pray like this anyways. Remember, it’s spontaneous. You might ask “If I already pray this way, what’s the point of learning about it?” The point is to recognize it and lean into it. Instead of coming out when you lose control, it can become an enriching part of your prayers.

The Quicksand of Emotions

The problem with sola feels

As great as these prayers are, there’s a danger to them. We can get sucked into our emotions. There’s a difference between saying, “I feel abandoned” and saying, “I am abandoned.” One is expressing an emotion; the other is subscribing to it. One is telling the truth about what you’re feeling; the other is letting your feelings tell you what’s true.

Does that make sense?

We need to be especially on guard against this in our post-modern culture obsessed with feelings. Your feelings are valid and it’s good to express them. I don’t want anyone to go home and bottle them up. They’re just a bad foundation to build your truth on.

Turning to God

So how do we guard against this? gives us a good example of how to go about it.

He’s honest, he’s authentic, but he doesn’t let himself stay there. He talks himself out of it. He reminds himself who God is. Things weren’t always this way and they won’t always be. God was faithful before and he’s faithful now. What he says is true is more reliable than what my emotions say are true.