Pretty Pious Words

A line from a biography of Spurgeon:

" I can readily tell when a brother is praying, or when he is only performing, or playing at prayer... Oh for a living groan! One sigh of the soul has more power in it than half an hour's recitation of pretty pious words."

It occurred to me that a good portion of my prayers are just 'head' prayers. I know what I should be praying and the sorts of things I should say. But I was thinking that that isn't very real.

Prayer has to come from the inner man. It has to have the full weight of your heart and soul behind it. Your gut needs to ache within you as you express the burden God's placed on your heart. Tired expressions, 'performance prayers' and formulaic routine surely can't have much weight. God must like a bit of passion from us! Girrrr!