Just be yoursel in prayer

Are you yourself in your daily communication with God? A couple of things have reminded me about this recently. Heard a sermon recently on Psalm 42. Preacher suggested that it was important that we are honest with God - if we are feeling good we should say we are feeling good and if we are feeling bad again we should Lord I'm feeling bad about a particular situation. I have been reading Philip Yancey's Prayer Does it make any difference?

Philip Yancey brings to us a story about a young women and honesty:


"I was teaching a class at a church in chicago when a young woman raised her hand witha question. I knew her as a shy, conscientious student who attended faithfully but never spoke. The rest of the class seemed surprised as well, and listened attentively. ' I'm not always sincere when I pray,' She began. 'Sometimes it seems forced more like a ritual. I'm just repeating words. Does God repeat those prayers? Should I keep going even though I have no confidence I have no confidence I'm doing right?'
I let the silence hang around the room for a moment before attempting an answer. 'Do you notice how quiet around it is in here?' I said. 'We all sense your honestly. It took courage for you to be vulnerable and you touched a nerve with the others of us in the room. You seemed sincere, unlike a salesman, say who gets paid to give a spiel. We tuned in, listening, respectful, becuase you are authentic. And I imagine it's the same with God God wants your authentic self'"
Taken from Philip Yancey Prayer: Does it make a difference, chapter 3, p31