Hearts, not lips. How many of us are Christians but feel forced to hold daily communication with our Lord. You know what I mean, praying becomes mechanical and routine. You don’t open up to Him, you hold back in shame, and choose to put on your professional Christian attitude when praying, much like we do among people. We have a public face and a private face. We have a heartfelt spirit we share with our Lord, and we have a mechanical spirit when we simply recite prayers in a mono fashion. We do not operate from our heart. We do not allow our inner spirit to live in victory. Our communication with the Lord suffers, as does our outward man who operates in fear of being judged.
Our Lord cries, why do my people say they honor me with their lips, but their practices 
are not heart driven? Why do they treat me with anguish? Why is our relationship so impersonal? The fact is, we are God’s children (wayward or not), or we are not God’s children. We either have a strong relationship with Him, or we do not. The way we treat God, the way we treat others, the way that we exhibit His love determines who we are in Christ. If we fail to show our love in practice and live a heartfelt life, then we are giving lip service to all that we do, including communion with our Lord and Savior.
Our life begins with our relationship with our Lord. It encompasses all that we are and all that we do. Is this an easy process, not necessarily. Often, we, I, stay in communication only to become comfortable and then complacent. My daily time becomes a coffee break, rushed through and checked off. Does this sound familiar?
God never fails. He sees our tears, our anguish, our anxiety. He also sees our compassion, love, empathy, kindness, trustworthiness, patience, and self-control whether we display it to Him or the outside world. He is our witness to all that we do. He is the recipient of all that we hold in or share with Him. He is our Father. He created us and delivered a divine plan nestled deep in our heart. He is our promise keeper.
It is time to free ourselves, from our banality, our public selves, and go deeper. It is time to risk opening our hearts. It is time to strip off the façade and welcome our God-self 
into the world, and most importantly in our cherished moments with our Lord and Savior in prayer. Our God-self is the Holy Spirit who projects 
light through our being into the world. Our relationship rests in part on our prayers being aligned with our lips. Our heart and our lips must project the same things, they cannot work effectively (if at all) if they are not in sync with the Word, and our relationship with the Lord.
No parent should cry, why do my children’s hearts and lips seem disjointed, disconnected, and artificial? Why do they fail to honor our relationship, why are they so far from me?
Jesus wants us to come home. He wants our hearts to be full. He wants us to commit or re-commit our relationship to Him with honest heartfelt prayer, praise, and worship.
December is the month that focuses on Christ’s birth. Our gift to Him is our heart and 
our love. Speak to God through our hearts, express it with our lips. It is time to open our hearts and not just our lips.
Other Related Posts:
- God’s Word, Our Life, Oct 18, 2018. Short link: https://wp.me/p98Coa-C4
- The Goal and Purpose of Faith, Oct 11, 2018. Short link: https://wp.me/p98Coa-G0
- Heaven and Earth, Sept 18, 2018. Short link: https://wp.me/p98Coa-xu
- Focus Above, Find Peace, Sept 13, 2018. Short link: https://wp.me/p98Coa-wd
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Thank you for visiting my Young Christian Warriors site and dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com.
Re-Blog – 
God does not discriminate, nor should we. If He discriminated, the Gentiles would not have been adopted into the family, and we would not be given the opportunity to be part of the Christian Faith through adoption. 
The scripture continues and teaches us how to pray. It informs us to pray through the Holy Spirit. Praying gives the Holy Spirit the ability to guide our prayers to accomplish the fullness of their intent. The Holy Spirit directs our petitions. The only effective way to pray is in the Spirit. Some believe we must pray in tongues; others believe that it ended when they crucified Christ, ending the Old Testament dispensation. Regardless, for those who pray in tongues, praying in the Holy Spirit bypasses Satan’s listening ears. For those who do not, pray for the intervention of the Holy Spirit in praying to God, the Father. There is an expression that indicates our intent, ‘Prayers go up, and blessings come down.’
Lisa’s Daily Inspirations 