Something that I and apparently quite a few other people in my church seem to have noticed is the prevalence of the word "just" in our prayers. For example: "Lord, would you
just help us" or "Father, we
just want more of you", etc. I'm sure you know what I mean.
Inserting the word "just" has become habit for a lot of people, but even if we're not really thinking about it when we're saying it I still believe that it influences the meaning of our prayer. By saying "just", it's implying that that's all we want God to do and nothing more. By saying "just" we box in God's love for us as well as restricting the ways that we want Him to show His love. By saying "just" we limit the potential of the change that God can create in our lives.
As I wrote in the beginning, many others (particularly leaders) seemed to have also noticed this habit, and have been correcting themselves whenever a "just" slips out. From what I've observed, by removing the word "just" a prayer becomes more desperate and more sincere. In the long run, those are the kind of prayers that God will respond to.
/end rant
On a side note, I've downloaded a journaling program onto my computer. I plan on using it to help me remember certain lessons that I've learned and interesting passages that I read. It'll also be an outlet for me to vent if I ever need to.
That's all I have for now.
Comments (3)
WORD.
was going to write something one this but you beat me to it. HAHA
but this is definitely something I myself did not realize.
time to go pray in 2 hours and 25 minutes haha
don't forget to pray :)
i've stopped saying just. the same thing's been on my heart, and i have come to a point where i try to eliminate all the clutter and wordiness of my usual prayers. i'm also trying to revere God more in prayer, to exalt him instead of having the tendency to go straight towards supplication. God knows what i need, so i usually try to revere God more in prayer. prayer is more for man than it is for God, i think. it refocuses man over and over on what is important, and God probably smiles when he listens to us.
ok i'm jumping on several weeks late, as usual, but: i feel really strongly that we should try to be intentional rather than thoughtless in prayer, so i totally agree that we should make an effort to restrict "just..." as well as excessive repetitions of various forms of God's name (Lord, Heavenly Father, etc). i know some people could argue that repeating God's name puts emphasis on acknowledging who he is or something, but by the same token someone could argue that repeating "just" emphasizes desperation--a good thing--rather than limitation, based on the nuances of usage for that word.
so i agree that we should stop saying these things, but more to eliminate clutter, as the comment above me mentions, than for actual meaning/usage reasons. because in my experience, we say these things as fillers--to increase the flow of our language and decrease the effort we put into choosing our words.
the point is the same, though: prayer should be intentional and thoughtful. we should all be more comfortable with pauses (without assuming they're awkward) and silence (without assuming it needs to be filled.)
fun fact: i don't know what language you studied, but in high school i learned that the spanish word for this kind of thing is "muletilla." we don't really have a term for it in english, so that's what i always consider "just," "Lord God" (in prayer), "like," "you know," etc in my head.