{"id":3701,"date":"2021-01-31T17:46:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-31T17:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/clone\/2021\/01\/31\/prayer-pour-out-your-heart-to-god\/"},"modified":"2023-06-02T07:02:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T05:02:14","slug":"prayer-pour-out-your-heart-to-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disciplestoday.org\/clone\/prayer-pour-out-your-heart-to-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Prayer: Pour Out Your Heart to God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” <\/span> – Psalm 62:8 <\/span><\/p>

There are times when our heart is so full that it seems as though it is going to break. It may be sorrow, anguish, frustration, guilt, anger\u2014any number of pressures can build up within us until we reach our breaking point. At these times we have a choice to make: We can either try to handle it ourselves, or we can turn to God. And in turning to God, we can either do so superficially, or we can do so deeply. We can choose to merely mention things to God in prayer or we can pour out our hearts. <\/span><\/p>

I am sure that many of us pray about the things that burden us, but fewer of us pour out how we feel. David tells us: <\/span><\/p>

“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your <\/span><\/p>

hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” – <\/span> Psalm 62:8 <\/span><\/p>

He says it another way in a later Psalm: <\/span><\/p>

“I pour out my complaint before him; <\/span><\/p>

before him I tell my trouble.” – <\/span> Psalm 142:2 <\/span><\/p>

How can we be close to someone to whom we do not pour out our hearts? How can they know us? \u201cBut God is all-knowing,\u201d we say to ourselves. \u201cHe already knows what we think and feel. What\u2019s the point of telling him what he already knows?\u201d <\/span><\/p>

To this I say that David and other Bible characters did not look at their relationship with God in such an analytical fashion. They related to him as a child to a father, and what child can be close to a father who does not hear his or her cries? Perhaps God does know how we feel, but unless we tell him our feelings, we will never draw close to him. It is a sad thing that we would be willing to pour out our hearts to a close friend, but withhold those same emotions from our heavenly Father. Such behavior shows how humanistic we are and how impersonal our walk with God is. <\/span><\/p> Someone else may say, \u201cI\u2019m just not the emotional type. I don\u2019t need to cry, and I don\u2019t have many feelings to pray about.\u201d The fact is, everyone has feelings. It is just that some of us have so long denied them that we do not believe they are there! Also, I would point you to the example of Jesus who both had feelings and expressed them; <\/span> “During the days of Jesus\u2019 life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” – <\/span> Hebrews 5:7 <\/span>

\"\"<\/center>


Jesus represents the perfect disciple, the person whom we should imitate above all others. We are not following him as we should if we do not allow ourselves to feel and if we do not pour out the contents of our hearts to God. <\/span><\/p>

How can we do this? Let me offer several suggestions: <\/span><\/p>