Sometimes when I tell a lost person, “I’m praying for you” it is almost viewed as a “holier than thou” thing to say. And that is of course not how I mean it.

When called on to pray publicly, sometimes people will inevitably feel pressure to “knock it out of the park”. Sure, this is often a fleshly, self-imposed pressure. But it should never be a peer pressure. People asked to pray in church should not feel any social obligation to impress with their praying, but rather just pray in humility and sincerity with “clean hands, and a pure heart” (Psalm 24:3-4). And those being led in the public prayer ought to have enough brotherly charity to not care how it came out.