Ugly Prayers

By Josh Musgrove

Do you ever feel like you can't escape the pressure life throws at you? Do you look at your circumstances and ask "God, where are you?"

 

Sometimes it looks like turning to God didn't work. I know what that's like. This book is a road map for returning to a genuine friendship with Jesus once again, or maybe for the first time. God has reminded me of the simplicity of being a son and I'll never look back.

 

Ugly Prayers is about being honest with Jesus again. As you let go of the pretense and take off the mask, you can begin to heal and step into a genuine relationship with Jesus again. There's nothing more amazing than knowing Jesus for yourself. A life lived with God is the pinnacle of anything you could ever experience.

 

In Ugly Prayers, you will:

• Reconstruct your understanding of how to relate to God in prayer.
• Become closer to God than you have ever been.
• Relearn how to be open and authentic with God.
• Let go of false shame and guilt.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Josh Musgrove
• Release date: Dec 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9798989381371

Book preview

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Copyright © 2023 by Josh Musgrove

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (HCSB) are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 979-8-9893813-0-2 (paperback)

ISBN: 979-8-9893813-7-1 (ebook)

www.joshmusgrove.com

Contents

1.The Masquerade

2.Just Be Real

3.Prayers of Doubt and Despair

4.God Won't Cancel You

5.Coming Clean

6.Getting Back on Track

7.Positional Closeness vs. Relational Closeness

8.We Got Through It. Together

9.Desperation isn’t Overrated

10.Transforming Pain into Purpose: Dealing with Disappointments

11.Here Come My Enemies

12.Enemies to Relationship

Conclusion

Thank You

My Prayer

Salvation Prayer Example

Ugly Prayer Example # 1

Ugly Prayer Example # 2

Ugly Prayer Example # 3

Stay Connected

Chapter 1

The Masquerade

Do you ever feel distant from God despite going to church, reading your Bible, and praying? Do you ever feel like something is missing from your soul? If your heart seems somewhat out of touch with God, then this is the book for you. Together, let’s begin a journey with the perspective that being close to God is easier than you think and more attainable than you could imagine. Let me begin by presenting a little background about myself. I’m from a small town in Alabama, in the heart of the Bible Belt. Many people in my community go to church, and we certainly have a Christian culture in and around town. Sadly, our Christian culture is best described in 2 Timothy 3:5 as having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. From the outside looking in, our culture appears right and genuine. However, it is a pretend righteousness.

Often church service attendance is for show. People masquerade around trying to impress other community members who often have the same pretense of faith. Such double-minded living is best described as dry, dead faith. Faith that looks genuine but has the credibility of a three-dollar bill. Some people are well meaning, but have hearts that are distant from God. A heart that is distant from God creates a cold, callous life. Attitudes, behavior, and demeanor are clear indicators of a person’s heart posture towards God. Having preached and been around many of these pretenders, you learn how to discern the genuine from the pretender/deceived. My heart’s desire is to see a change in my town and across the country. My town is not unique to this type of religious entrapment. I sympathize with those whose hearts have drifted from God. They miss the best part of life, which is being close to Jesus.

This dry religious show creates a loveless environment. It pretends to be caring and talks lovingly, but is devoid of love. Such dry religion appears to be godly, but by God’s standards, lacks godliness. Believers can easily fall into the trap of becoming a product of their environment. And if we are candid, as I plan to be in this book, we have all fallen into that trap at some point. Believers face the challenge of a heart prone to wonder. All the while, we can be regular in our church attendance. Focusing your heart on Jesus can protect you from letting worldly Christian culture into your walk with Christ. This is true no matter the environment. 

I know it seems as if I am critical of the local Christian culture and rightfully I am. We have to address our problems so we can be who God wants us to be individually and collectively as the Church. My end goal is not to condemn, rather to restore a mindset focused on pleasing God instead of our peers. We begin and maintain this restoration in the heart. We have to learn to be masters at managing our hearts. The most effective way I’ve seen to naturally maintain a God-focused heart is through ugly prayers. As you pray authentically, you will naturally develop a rhythm of prayer that maintains closeness with God in a restful way. 

Second Timothy 3:5 teaches us to avoid fake Christians. It took me a while to realize the importance of surrounding myself with the right company. There was a time when I feared I was not a loving Christian, since I avoided certain people. Later, I realized I had to protect my peace and my spirit from pretend Christians. They are normally more dangerous than the unsaved. The wrong company can become the right company later on. We don’t want to write people off forever. Instead, we need to have discernment when dealing with people. We decide who gets access to our lives and who doesn’t. Not everyone needs to be involved in your business. It’s not healthy and limits your effectiveness for God’s Kingdom.

The Holy Spirit inside of you will let you know who to stay away from and who to be around. God will not always give you a logical reason, your spirit will simply know. Let God lead you in selecting the people in your inner circle. The heart condition of a person matters more than the outward appearance. For example, there are preachers I would not want to spend 2 seconds with. Though they look the part, I know internally something is wrong and to stay away. Learning this principle has protected me many times over the years. The closer your heart is to God, the easier it is to discern the Spirit’s leading. Following the examples and principles laid out in this book will help you maintain a good heart posture towards God. 

Having a Jesus focused heart posture is the foundation for following God’s leadership in your life. Jesus expresses His leadership through God’s word and His Spirit within us. Without a quality heart posture, listening to God is like listening to a radio full of static. Trying to follow God’s leading becomes confusing and you can’t quite make out what to do. Discerning the Holy Spirit’s leading is usually in part, meaning you know to do something but don’t know why. Even with a heart that is in tune with God, you rarely get the complete picture. Usually, God’s leading is one step at a time.

Jesus fulfilled Isaiah 61:1 during His earthly ministry, one step at a time. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. (Isaiah 61:1, ESV). As you progress through each chapter, my prayer is to see the captives liberated, the broken hearts healed, and the prisoners freed. Every believer has had their heart broken, faced setbacks, disappointments, and been trapped by lies. How do you move on from that? How do you keep going with an internal limp? 

Emotional and mental scars are just as real and impactful as physical injuries. The problem with these internal scars is the difficulty of diagnosing them. For that reason, they often go unhealed. Silent soul injuries linger and rob us of our lives from the inside out. Depression, insecurity, fears, and worries short-circuit every desire to reach for a better life and to dream again. These inner wounds can limit our potential and keep us in a familiar cycle of dysfunction. Thankfully, with Jesus Christ’s involvement in our lives, there is hope for complete healing and restoration. This book will help you overcome defeat and embrace victorious living.

Jesus set this captive free, and He will do the same for you. Acts 10:34 states, So Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘Truly I understand that God shows no partiality.’ This means that what God does for one