Some people waste their prayers. God is not our servant. He does not hover over us waiting to grant our next request. Neither does he accept any old prayer or offering we deign to give Him. At times we can wrongly assume that God must be pleased that we offer Him any prayer or sacrifice at all, considering our full and demanding schedules. We may hurriedly throw up a prayer on the way to our first meeting of the day, satisfying ourselves that at least we said our daily prayers once again.
The reality is that the effectiveness of our prayers is directly connected to the condition of our heart. We could offer the world’s greatest fortune to God as a sacrifice but He would be unimpressed if our heart was filled with pride or unforgiveness. Likewise, when there is sin in our heart, the only acceptable prayer we can offer is one of confession and repentance.
Conversely, when our hearts are pure before God, He delights in our communion with Him. He is pleased to hear and respond to our requests. How amazing for God to take pleasure in hearing what is on our heart! How could we not earnestly desire personal holiness so we could have God’s attentive ear when we pray? If your prayer times have seemed lifeless and void of God’s pleasure, have you searched your heart to see if it is presently pleasing to God?