We’ve been looking at the 5 Basic Principles of Prayer Connect for Blissful People; things you must understand and become established in, in order to be effective in your prayers. They are:

1. God does not find fault with your prayers.
2. There are different kinds of prayers.
3. Be sincere in prayer.
4. Be very clear about what you want.
5. Be relentless in prayer.

So far we’ve looked at principle #1, and principle #2. Let’s now continue with principle #3.

Principle #3: Be sincere in prayer.

Look at the verse below. It talks about those that may dwell in the sacred tent of the Lord; those that may live on His holy mountain.

Psalm 15:1-2 NIV
[1] Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? [2] The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart;

The point here is that God hates hypocrisy. Especially in prayer; among those that approach Him.

Hypocrisy in prayer is when you desperately need something, but in order to appear saintly and not be condemned by others, you pray for something else.

A young lady desperately desires to get married. But because she’s in the midst of a holier-than-thou crowd that hypocritically regard marriage as carnal, she begins to pray for ‘a deeper intimacy with the Holy Spirit’— This is hypocrisy in prayer.

And, unfortunately, it is also very common among religious folks. Religious folks tend to be extremely hypocritical; including in their prayers.

There are many reasons for this insincerity, including:

• The need to be seen as a saint.
• To avoid being condemned by the holier-than-thou crowd.
• Ignorance of the generosity of God.

Whatever the reason, Blissful People must shun hypocrisy in prayer. Instead, let us embrace sincerity in prayers.

In our prayers, we must speak the truth from our hearts before God. Let God know exactly what you want.

Don’t compare yourself with someone else, because people are never in the same phases of life.

Someone may be praying for spiritual growth, because that’s what they truly desire. You on the other hand might be in desperate need for a promotion in your job.

Don’t start praying for spiritual growth just because the other fellow is doing that, because you feel your own prayer is carnal, or because you want to appear more spiritual than you are. Otherwise you’ll not be speaking the truth from your heart before God.

Instead, be sincere. Get before God and ask for promotion in your job!

May the Holy Spirit Himself help all His Blissful People To be sincere in prayers. And may He grant our requests today. In Jesus name.

Remember to join Blissful People for Prayer Connect this morning at 11:00am UTC+1, and this evening for Table Tuesday at 06:00pm UTC+1.