A Prayer Worth Praying

There are certain Scripture verses I've read that made me pause and think what an awesome prayer to God they would be. My daughter Amanda came home from school one day and shared this memory verse with me: May the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14). This would be a great verse to remember whenever our prayer life becomes stale because it is a prayer worth praying.

Our words have the power to bless or curse (James 3:8-10). They can offer hope to those without hope and encouragement to those who are ready to throw in the towel. Yet our words also have the power to damage or destroy others as well as our own testimony. Our actions can also be God-honoring or destructive as well and they begin as thoughts and meditations in our hearts. If those thoughts are not pure, our incorrect thinking will eventually lead us into sin (James 1:13-15).

To refer to God as our rock and redeemer is to acknowledge that all of our power and strength comes from Him. We recognize that it is only by his unmerited grace and mercy that we have an everlasting hope for the future. To pray that both our words and our thoughts would be acceptable in God's sight is to admit that left to our own thoughts, words and deeds; we will fall incredibly short of His holiness.

I am completely confident that our Heavenly Father stands ready to bless and honor a prayer like Psalm 19:14 because it expresses a heartfelt desire to be like Christ.