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5 "And
when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and
pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by
others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut
the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in
secret will reward you. 7And
when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think
that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do
not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."
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So far in this series on prayer we
looked at what prayer is, what we can do, and why we should pray.
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In today's message, we are going to
get back to practice, how to pray.
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How does a person pray? Do we spend
much of our time offering urgent requests? Or do we spend regular time adoring
God?
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When do we pray? Where do we pray?
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These questions are important for us
to answer because our answers will tell us how important prayer really is to us.
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The Lord Jesus said more about
prayer in his short teaching on the topic than most books.
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In Matthew chapter 6, we find his
most detailed teaching on prayer, and today we are going to focus in on verse
six.
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"But
when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who
is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
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Let's take
this verse one piece at a time.
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It begins
with these words: "But when you pray..." Literally, translated it says
first, "but you, when you pray."
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The first
thing I'd like to point out about this phrase is that Prayer Must Be
Personal.
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Jesus makes
prayer personal. When he said, "but you", he spoke to his disciples individually.
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Jesus also
speaks to us individually.
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How is your
prayer life?
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We must always
see prayer as something every follower of Jesus ought to do. Prayer is for
every believer.
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Prayer
is a personal privilege.
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Hebrews
4:14-16 says, "14Since
then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is
unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been
tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let
us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
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According to the law of Moses, under
the old covenant believers needed a priest to represent them before God.
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When a believer brought a sacrifice,
the priest would make the offering before the Lord.
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Only once each year was the high
priest allowed to enter the Most Holy Place in the Temple to offer a sacrifice
for all the sins of God's people.
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But when Jesus Christ died on the
cross, the curtain that separated the Most Holy Place (i.e., God's presence)
from the outer parts of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
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God opened the way for all believers
to come to him personally through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ once for all.
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Because prayer is a personal
privilege for us, we must come to the throne of grace personally and boldly.
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Prayer is also a personal
responsibility. Hebrews 4:16 also reminds us that
we are to pray when we are in need.
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It is the personal responsibility of
believers to pray for the needs of others and themselves.
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When we are aware of any need, then
we are to pray.
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Personal needs, family needs,
spiritual needs, friends, neighbors and the world, for all these the Scriptures
instruct believers to pray.
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It's not enough to pray with the
preacher on Sunday morning. God made us to spend time with him personally.
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Your prayer life is for you as much
as it is for others. Prayer must be personal.
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Let's look again at the first phrase
of Matthew chapter 6, verse 6. "But when you pray..."
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Notice the word, "when".
When indicates time. Prayer Must Be Periodic.
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The follower of Jesus must learn to
pray at regular times.
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The Lord did not say "if"
you pray, he said, "when" you pray. He expects his followers to pray.
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When do you pray? Are there certain
times each day that you have set aside to pray?
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Everybody wants a healthy prayer
life. It is not that we plan to fail, but we often fail to plan.
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So to have a healthy, active prayer
life, we have to build prayer into our daily schedules; we have to have a plan.
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When we do not have prayer built
into our daily routines, then it is easy for prayer to get pushed out when we
are busy.
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Let's also notice that Jesus
instructs his followers to pray in a specific place. "Go into your
room," he said.
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When we are used to praying in a
specific place, it helps us to prepare to be with God and it helps remove
interruptions and distractions.
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Prayer must be periodic.
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Prayer must be personal, prayer must
be periodic, and Prayer Must Be Private.
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Now, when I say prayer must be
private, please do not hear what I am not saying.
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I am not saying that there is no
place for the church to pray together as the gathered people of God.
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On the contrary, the New Testament tells
of the believers gathered together praying and God used those prayers to
display his power.
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The Jewish Council commanded Peter
and John not to preach in the name of Jesus, but the church gathered to pray
and the apostles continued to preach boldly.
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Later, Peter was put in prison, but
the church gathered to pray and God sent an angel to release him.
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The New Testament anticipates that
we will gather to pray as well.
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But what do we mean by private
prayer? What did Jesus mean when he
said, "go into your room and shut the door"?
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The purpose of praying privately is
to shut in yourself, and shut out the world.
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We need undistracted, uninterrupted
time alone with God.
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When we do not have a place where we
can go to be alone with God, then our prayer lives will be distracted and
interrupted.
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Two
types of distraction can rob us of our private time with
God.
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The first type of distraction is internal. It is distraction that comes
from within, inside us.
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When you are feeling distracted or
distracting thoughts keep popping into your mind, it is incredibly difficult to
focus on praying or being silent.
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We can do many things to help us
focus, for example: praying aloud,
mouthing our words silently, writing down distracting thoughts in point form so
we can put them aside until later, praying the Psalms or other Scriptures, all
these can help us to keep our internal focus.
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The second type of distraction is external. It is a distraction that
comes from without, outside us.
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The four Gospels (Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John) show many examples of Jesus going off by himself to isolated or
solitary places to pray.
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Just as Jesus needed private time
alone with God where he could be free from external distractions, so we also
need places where we can go to be with God without any distractions.
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When we are alone to pray, then we
are not praying for show, but for God alone.
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Listen to how Eugene Peterson
understands what Jesus said.
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"Here’s what I want you to do:
Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God.
Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift
from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace."
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Prayer must be private, prayer must
be personal, prayer must be periodic, and Prayer Must Be Practiced.
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When Jesus said, "but when you
pray" he was saying that his followers need to pray.
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Let's hear Matthew 6:6 again.
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6 But
when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who
is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
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God expects us to pray.
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Well, where do we start?
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A good place to start would be with the A.C.T.S. prayer (Adoration, Confession,
Thanksgiving, Supplication).
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A, Adore God for who he is and what
he has done. C, Confess your sins to him. T, Thank him for his forgiveness,
love, mercy, grace, and for hearing your prayers, and S, ask for God's supply
for every specific need that you can on behalf of others and yourself.
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Prayer must be practiced.
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Prayer must be private, prayer must
be personal, prayer must be periodic, prayer must be practiced, and Prayer
Must Be to a Person.
o Jesus said, "Pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees
in secret will reward you."
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As
the Message words it, "Just
be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from
you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace."
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Our prayers are to be focused on our
Father in heaven.
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We pray to the Father, in the name
of the Son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
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And when we pray, we need to pray in
the best way we know how.
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We have already touched on the idea
that prayer should not be a show.
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We may be under the false impression
that others will think us spiritual if we're seen praying in public, but that
is very far from true.
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If we are praying in public and no
one else is praying with us, then we are merely putting on a show and that is
pride.
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According to verse five of our passage for today
Jesus said, 5 "And when you pray, you must
not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues
and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to
you, they have received their reward."
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Those who pray this way are not
praying to the Father, but to themselves. When we pray this way, we idolize ourselves.
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Prayer must be to a person and that
person must be God.
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Prayer
also must not be mechanical ritual.
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As Jesus said in verse seven from today's Scripture, 7"And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as
the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words."
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Those who follow pagan gods use
prayer as a way to manipulate their gods.
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The Lord instructs us to pray with
hearts and minds that are focused on him.
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We serve a God who cannot and will
not be manipulated.
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Prayer must be to a Person.
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Prayer must be private, prayer must
be personal, prayer must be periodic, prayer must be practiced, prayer must be
to a person, and...
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Prayer Must Be Persevering.
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Jesus
said, "Your Father who sees in
secret will reward you."
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We need to persevere in prayer
because God the Father will reward us.
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Our motivation to continue praying
comes from knowing God.
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When we understand who God is and
what he can do, then we will have the endurance to keep on praying.
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Ephesians 3:20 tells us that God is
"able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the
power that work within us."
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Philippians 4:19 promises that God
will supply every need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
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Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without
faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must
believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."
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Sometimes after only a few minutes
of praying, we can become discouraged.
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We may even go days or weeks without
praying because we do not see results.
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Practiced prayer is not about
results; it is about being with God: worshiping him,
adoring him, confessing our sins to him, thanking him, and depending on him to
supply every need.
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Prayer must be persevering.
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Prayer must be private, prayer must
be personal, prayer must be periodic, prayer must be practiced, prayer must be
to a person, and prayer must be persevering.
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Practiced
prayer is not about results; it is about being with God.
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