God desires His children to live with purity and simplicity in their devotion to Him. However, over time, we may be influenced by the religious attitudes and traditions around us, which can pollute our walk with God and place heavy burdens upon us. As a result, these false attitudes and unnecessary traditions can create barriers in our relationship with God.

Consider Jesus’s instructions to His disciples:

“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for fifteen minutes of fame! Do you think God sits in a box seat? Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense is grace. The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. “(Matthew 6:5–8, MSG)

The prayer life of a Christian is often a struggle because of comparison, pressure, pride, and striving. We may look at others and believe we are either better or worse in this area. Such comparison influences our prayer life, rather than our prayers being motivated by our relationship with God. Like the Pharisees, we may give in to pressure and strive to meet others’ expectations. As a result, we add rules and regulations to our prayer time, believing this is how we can earn people’s praise and God’s approval.

However, these patterns of thinking are demonic and prideful because they remove God from the equation and prevent us from praying with right motives. Our prayers become self-centered, causing us to lose the joy and purity of simple devotion to God through a prayer life free from fleshly restraints.

God cares about the quality of our motives, not the quantity of our words. He desires a pure heart rather than passionate speech. He longs for humility, not an impressive presentation. When our prayer life veers off course, a reset is often necessary. We must get back to basics. This happens only when we are honest with ourselves and God and turn our hearts back to the cross. We must anchor ourselves in this truth: the blood of Jesus is the only good thing in our prayer life—not our eloquent speech (or lack thereof), not our passionate expression (or lack thereof), not others’ perceptions (good or bad), and not the fruit of our prayers (or lack thereof).

Oswald Chambers said it best:

 “God does not hear us because we pray earnestly—He hears us solely on the basis of redemption. God is never impressed by our earnestness.” ¹

The blood of Jesus is more than enough, so let us stop trying to be enough through our prayers! 

When we settle this truth in our hearts, we stop striving, and the need to measure up or impress others falls away. We can then return to the path of simple devotion and joy by offering pure words to God as a pleasing aroma.

Friend, has your prayer life felt stressful and complicated? Have you given in to the pressure of people’s expectations and traditions? Have you sensed barriers in your communication with God? It’s time to get back to basics. Begin with a fresh confession today, and invite God to lead you through the process. Start with this simple prayer of faith today:

“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14, NIV)

¹ Oswald Chambers, “Praying to God in Secret,” Utmost.org.
https://utmost.org/updated/praying-to-god-in-secret/