Matthew 6:5-8
Praying is one of the great privileges we have
as christians in our relationship with God. The people of God have prayed from
the earliest period of the history of mankind. Abraham was called the friend of
God and he prayed unto God, habitually, thereby, receiving extraordinary
blessings. Moses, though he was often referred to as “the servant of God ”,
also maintained such relationship and fellowship with Him that “the LORD
spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend ”
(Exodus 33:11). He, too, through this privilege of prayer, had an influence
beyond that of most men in history. The name of Moses is mentioned 804 times in
the Bible.
This
privilege is not reserved for selected or special friends of God; it is ours,
it is yours. Prayer helps us secure the power and assistance of Omnipotence so
that our lives achieve more than we could have achieved ordinarily. Man becomes
taller when he bends and kneels in prayer before God. Man’s noblest activity
that accomplishes the highest achievement is prayer. Each man becomes greater
when he is in true communion with the Almighty God.
Yet
there is a wrong way, a false way, an ineffective way, of praying as well as a
right way, a true way, a proper, effective way of praying. This is what the
Lord, Jesus Christ, teaches us here. And who can teach us an acceptable way of
praying better than Jesus? “Lord, teach us (how) to pray”
(Luke 11:1).
1. EXAMPLES
OF WRONG MOTIVES IN PRAYER
Matthew 6:5,7; 23:14;
Luke 18:11-14; 20:45-47; Proverbs 28:9; Psalm 66:18; Proverbs 1:24-28; Isaiah
58:1,2; 1 Kings 18:26-29; Jeremiah 10:2.
Our motives matter a lot
in praying. The Pharisees prayed much but received nothing from God. Hypocrisy
hindered answers to any of their prayers. “They love to pray standing in
the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.”
They were anxious and ambitious to be seen and praised for praying. Their
desire was to be seen praying by others. When they prayed, they ensured that
they stood in conspicuous places so that others would see them. In calling
attention to themselves, their motive for praying was wrong. Whether in private
praying or in public praying in the congregation, the desire to impress people
with our prayer is wrong.
Neither should we use “vain
repetitions, as the heathen do.” It was (and still is) the practice of
the heathen to write or memorize forms of prayer and then recite the prayer
many times in a day and also repeat it day after day. Such meaningless
repetition lengthened their prayer but it had no power or effect. “They
think that they shall be heard for their much speaking” but God pays no
attention to their prayers. Wrong motives and sin make our prayers worthless
and ineffective. Instead of bringing God’s help and power on our side,
hypocrisy and sinful lifestyle actually set God against us (1 Peter 3:12; Ezra
8:22; 1 Samuel 12:15; Ezekiel 13:8,9). Praying is a great privilege with great
potentials but wrong motives, hypocrisy and unrighteousness will render it
useless and unprofitable.
2. EXHORTATION
TO RIGHT MOTIVES IN PRAYER
Matthew 6:6; Mark 1:35;
Matthew 26:36-39; Acts 9:8-11; Acts 10:9,30-33; Isaiah 26:20; Daniel 9:2-4;
Psalm 34:12-15; John 15:5-7; 1 John 5:14,15.
“But thou, when thou
prayest, enter into thy closet, and, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy
Father which is in secret.” To pray with right motives we must be cured
of the carnality of the Pharisees and be free from their hypocrisy. We need to
shut out all others when we pray, not seeking to be seen, known or praised by
men. Freedom from pride or selfish ambition, forgetting other people, is so
important to acceptable praying. This ‘principle of exclusion’ in prayer
implies we exclude all people who may praise or appreciate us for praying from
seeing us pray. It means that we do not advertise our praying to draw people to
ourselves. Our only concern is to be in the presence of our heavenly Father who
sees and enjoys our secret devotion.
Extending this principle
to the whole Scripture on praying effectively will mean that we do not only
shut out people, we also have to shut out things - distracting things that steal
our hearts away from God. While it is important to be in the secret place of
prayer, we must realize that it is more important to dwell and abide in the secret place of the
most High and also abide in His Word (Psalm 91:1,15; John 15:7). Shut out
people? Shut out pride, too. Shut out the society? Yes, shut out sin and Satan,
too.
3. EXPECTATION
OF RENEWED MIND IN PRAYER
Matthew 6:8; Ephesians
4:23,24; 6:32; Exodus 3:7,8; Job 42:1,2; 1 John 3:20-22; Romans 8:26-28,32;
Isaiah 40:28; Ephesians 3:20,21.
“Pray to thy Father
which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret shall reward thee
openly” (Matthew 6:6). What a great assurance of answers to our
private, personal prayers we have from the lips of Christ, the Son of God. We
are assured that God who sees in secret, who sees all secret things that human
eyes cannot see, who sees the real, hidden, desires and burdens of the hearts,
will answer our prayers. Our needs and
desires are sometimes inexpressible, weightier and deeper than words can express.
God who is acquainted with our real desires, will answer and grant the desires,
not merely the words we speak in prayer.
What follows is both
comforting and reassuring. “For your Father knoweth what things ye have
need of, before ye ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). For all who are forgiven,
cleansed and born again, our relationship with God is that of Father and child.
God, our Father, knows our every need before we ask Him. He desires to bless
us, He delights in blessing us, He is waiting to bless us with His fulness in
Christ. We can always come to God in prayer, with simple confidence and
child-like faith.
