Another Church Sign Rant: Prayer

I saw this yesterday down  the road from my house. It really bothers me. 

In the Bible, Jesus does tell His disciples how to pray. It's in Matthew 6: 9-13, and it's called "The Lord's Prayer".

It's not super long. There is no magic to it. And actually, when it's translated, it says something a little different. Instead of "Our Father in Heaven," the translation says, "Our Father who is as close to us as the air we breathe."

Prayer is how we talk to God. 

This sign upsets me because it's basically saying that unless your prayer follows this church's idea of prayer it doesn't count.

That's a HORRIBLE way to try to witness to people.

Why would they think putting someone's prayer life down would be a great way to win them to the Lord?

It's not.

You can pray a simple, "Help me, God." and He will hear you.

Now, Jesus does give another example of prayer. In Luke 18, a Pharisee and a tax collector were in the temple praying. The Pharisee prayed that he would never be like the tax collector, however, God delighted in the tax collector's prayer more because he was admitting his sin.

This church sign makes me think this church is acting like the Pharisee. They are saying that their prayers are better than everyone else's.

I just do not understand this.

God loves everyone the same. God hears our prayers just the same. Big long ones with fancy words, and little short ones. There is no right or wrong way to pray.

AND to top it all off... God will answer all prayers according to HIS will and plan for your life.

As a matter of fact, my 13 year old daughter said, "Shouldn't it be backwards? A ten cent prayer gets a thousand dollar answer?"

YES! Yes it should.

We are given grace, mercy and love, even when we don't deserve it. That's worth all the money in the world.