file: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db940907.txt
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OUR DAILY BREAD                      Wednesday, September 7, 1994
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READ:  James 3:1-12



                         "INCONSISTENT PRAYER"

               "Out of the same mouth proceed blessing
                             and cursing."

                              James 3:10

One morning at the breakfast table a father asked God's blessing 
on the food as usual.  In pious and exalted language he thanked 
the Lord for all His bountiful provisions.  But when he started 
eating, he grumbled about the poor quality of the food and 
complained about the way it was cooked.  His teenager interrupted 
him.  "Dad," she bagan, "do you think God heard your prayer?"

"Certainly," he replied confidently.

"And did He also hear when you complained about the bacon and 
coffee just now?" she asked.

"Why, of course!" he bellowed.

"Then which of your statements did God believe?"  The flush on his 
cheeks made it obvious that her discerning question had hit home.

Too often our prayers are nothing more than empty rhetoric.  We 
mouth beautiful words, but they seem to come from the top of our 
heads, not the bottom of our hearts.  Many of our public prayers 
are pompous and wordy, and our private prayers are anemic and 
trite. We forget that what we say to God must be consistent with 
how we live.

Let's shun the hypcocrisy of superficially thanking God while deep 
in our hearts we are dissatisfied with our blessings.  Beware of 
inconsistent prayer.

    - Henry G. Bosch

                       For words without the heart
                        The Lord will never hear,
                     Nor will He to those lips attend
                       Whose prayers are not sincere.

                                  Burton

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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It's not enough to say a prayer -- we have to
live it too.

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:  2 Chronicles 23-25

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