Does prayer play an important part in your life? Do you have some unanswered prayers? Can you remember times when your prayer was answered instantly?
Perhaps some of your prayers were only answered at later stage.
What are the example Christ left us on the subject of prayer?
Let us listen to His precious advice on how to pray and how not to pray?
Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Matthew 6:7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
Matthew 6:8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
Let us go into the deeper meaning of these words. His opening words on prayer were captured in verse 5. He is telling us what not to do when we pray:
Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
Reference here is to the stated hours of prayer, morning, and evening
Luke 1:8 So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division,
Luke 1:9 according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
Luke 1:10 And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.
The Temple and synagogues were, of course, the usual places of prayer.
Those who were unable to pray at these appointed places could pray in the field, in the home, or upon their bed. Later tradition designated certain prayers to be uttered while one was standing, others, while one was sitting, walking, riding an ass, sitting, or lying upon a bed. (Talmud Berakoth 30a, Soncino ed., pp. 183, 184; Midrash on Ps. 4, sec. 9 [23b], cited in Strack and Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament, vol. 1, p. 399).
Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
Corners of the streets. These were the places where business was commonly transacted. If the stipulated hours of prayer found the Pharisees on these street corners, they would strike an attitude of prayer and in a loud voice rehearse the formal phrases they commonly used in prayer. Many doubtless made it convenient to be abroad during these hours.
Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
The word translated “you” is in the emphatic position and is in the singular.
The verb for pray is also in the singular. Jesus addresses each member of His audience personally.
Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. NIV
Matthew 6:7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
What follows is a continuation of the subject, not the introduction of a new one.
Vain repetitions. Gr. battologeō, a word occurring only here in the NT, for which the following meanings have been suggested: “to speak stammeringly,” “to say the same thing over and over again,” “to babble,” “to rattle off,” “to speak without giving thought to what is spoken.”
Jesus did not proscribe all repetition, for He Himself used repetitions (ch. 26:44).
As the heathen do. Compare 1 Kings 18:26; Acts 19:34. Tibetans believe their prayer wheels repeat the same prayer countless thousands of times without thought or effort on the part of the worshiper.
Matthew 6:8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
Prayer does not provide God with information of what He would otherwise be unaware, nor is it intended as a means of persuading Him to do what He would otherwise be unwilling to do. Prayer links us with the Omniscient One, and conditions our wills to cooperate effectively with His will.
Lets recap these important words of Jesus:
Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Matthew 6:7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
Matthew 6:8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
The Pharisees had stated hours for prayer; and when, as often came to pass, they were abroad at the appointed time, they would pause wherever they might be—perhaps in the street or the market place, amid the hurrying throngs of men—and there in a loud voice rehearse their formal prayers.
Such worship, offered merely for self-glorification, called forth unsparing rebuke from Jesus. He did not, however, discountenance public prayer, for He Himself prayed with His disciples and in the presence of the multitude.
But He teaches that private prayer is not to be made public. In secret devotion our prayers are to reach the ears of none but the prayer-hearing God. No curious ear is to receive the burden of such petitions.
“When you prayter into thy closet.” Have a place for secret prayer. Jesus had select places for communion with God, and so should we. We need often to retire to some spot, however humble, where we can be alone with God.
“Pray to thy Father which is in secret.” In the name of Jesus we may come into God’s presence with the confidence of a child. No man is needed to act as a mediator. Through Jesus we may open our hearts to God as to one who knows and loves us.
In the secret place of prayer, where no eye but God’s can see, no ear but His can hear, we may pour out our most hidden desires and longings to the Father of infinite pity, and in the hush and silence of the soul that voice which never fails to answer the cry of human need will speak to our hearts.
“The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” James 5:11. He waits with unwearied love to hear the confessions of the wayward and to accept their penitence. He watches for some return of gratitude from us, as the mother watches for the smile of recognition from her beloved child.
He would have us understand how earnestly and tenderly His heart yearns over us. He invites us to take our trials to His sympathy, our sorrows to His love, our wounds to His healing, our weakness to His strength, our emptiness to His fullness. Never has one been disappointed who came unto Him. “They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.” Psalm 34:5.
Those who seek God in secret telling the Lord their needs and pleading for help, will not plead in vain. “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
As we make Christ our daily companion, we shall feel that the powers of an unseen world are all around us; and by looking unto Jesus we shall become assimilated to His image. By beholding we become changed. The character is softened, refined, and ennobled for the heavenly kingdom.
The sure result of our intercourse and fellowship with our Lord will be to increase piety, purity, and fervour. There will be a growing intelligence in prayer. We are receiving a divine education, and this is illustrated in a life of diligence and zeal.
The soul that turns to God for its help, its support, its power, by daily, earnest prayer, will have noble aspirations, clear perceptions of truth and duty, lofty purposes of action, and a continual hungering and thirsting after righteousness.
By maintaining a connection with God, we shall be enabled to diffuse to others, through our association with them, the light, the peace, the serenity, that rule in our hearts. The strength acquired in prayer to God, united with persevering effort in training the mind in thoughtfulness and care-taking, prepares one for daily duties and keeps the spirit in peace under all circumstances.
If we draw near to God, He will put a word in our mouth to speak for Him, even praise unto His name. He will teach us a strain from the song of the angels, even thanksgiving to our heavenly Father.
In every act of life, the light and love of an indwelling Saviour will be revealed. Outward troubles cannot reach the life that is lived by faith in the Son of God.
In our next presentation we will be looking at the model prayer of Christ. Let’s read it in the meantime:
Matthew 6:9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
Matthew 6:13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Matthew 6:14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Matthew 6:15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.