Come Broken and Humble

Ask God to help prepare your heart to see how to be broken and humble in your prayer life.

 Luke 18:14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

I am sure you have seen one of those acronyms to help teach you to pray, like:

P - Praise

R - Repent

A - Ask

Y - Yield

While these are great guidelines for teaching us what to include in our prayers and helping us to mature into a sound and powerful prayer life, there’s another vital aspect to include. When we seek our Heavenly Father in prayer, we should come to Him humbly. “Humble” comes from the word “humus”, or “earth”. We should approach the Throne of God on the ground, either figuratively or literally. Not proud, not haughty, not arrogant, not equally, but in true humility. In our Scripture we see that the Pharisee came to God boasting about himself, referring to himself as being better than those around him. He was proud of who he was. God saw him exalting himself instead our Heavenly Father.

Standing afar off was the Publican. He came to God broken and humble, “even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven” (Luke 18:13). He knew he was a sinner and came to the Father asking for mercy. Jesus acknowledged his attitude as the right one, and said he was justified: right with God.

Too often, we come to the Father full of pride, thinking about what we have done. But we need to come humbly to God, knowing that all things done in, and through our lives, can only be done through Him. It is important that we don’t pray to God to exalt ourselves, but to humble ourselves so that He can be exalted.

Seeking God in prayer is the beautiful way we get to talk to Him. We should be opening our heart to Him in prayer to praise Him, to repent of our sins, to ask Him for help, or needs, and to yield ourselves to His will, whatever he calls us to do.

What is your attitude in prayer?  Proud? Or broken and humble?

In what ways can you improve your prayer life?

Commit yourself to pray to God daily. And “Pray without ceasing.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Be aware of God’s presence at all times, and talk to Him continually throughout the day.