Luke 11:8-9 – I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence, he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Father, when you invite and urge me to pray there is no thing that is off the table, nothing about which I cannot speak to you. You invite and compel to pray openly, boldly, as an open book and open heart to you. You want me to hold nothing back and hide nothing from you. And yet I do. I keep from you parts of my life that I feel are insignificant and too small a thing for you to deal with. I guard from you those parts of my life of which I am ashamed. Father, how foolish I am! You are always more ready to hear than I am to speak. You are always more ready to forgive than I am to confess. You are always more ready to give than I am to ask. Father, you can and do do better and more than I can even ask or imagine. Compel me to pray shamelessly, bodly, openly to you. You have opened your heart to me; help me to open my heart to you. Amen.