5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 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. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.[a]’
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.[a]’
14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Not to say that this passage encompasses everything we need to know about prayer, but man, is it a good beginning!
#1 - Prayer is personal and private. Not to say we shouldn't have prayer groups, or pray aloud in church or at Bible study, but we need to be careful that our prayer is for the right reasons and with the right attitude. I find it difficult to pray in front of people because I am terribly self-conscious and I tend to choose my words more carefully because I know people are listening. Now, we should choose our words carefully when we pray AND when people are listening, but we need to be equally careful that our prayers are honest and genuine and not just flowery words for the benefit of those listening. We're talking to God.
#2 - Do not babble on. How many of us are guilty of going on and on about something because we feel like we should have "quantity" in our prayers? My hand is raised. I feel like I don't spend enough time praying, so I "babble" to put in the time. This is wasted effort! God ALREADY knows what the issues are, how we feel about them, and what we NEED.
I don't think this means we should just keep our prayers in point form and not elaborate on how we feel. There is definite value in expressing our feelings to God because often expressing them helps us to define them better for ourselves. Nothing worse than vague, undefined emotions that we don't know what to do with. Sometimes, in laying out a problem before the Lord, the answer becomes clear simply from the process of laying it out. (Not to say that it isn't God revealing it - it may be and it may not always be. Sometimes, as a friend, it is better simply to listen and not give advice because, by explaining the issue to you, the person with the problem may come to a conclusion on their own. Same can be true with prayer.) However, I think we should try to keep things relatively to the point, particularly when we pray about things that are not personal issues, such as a prayer request about someone we don't know, for example.
#3 - Start off by remembering to Whom you are speaking. Remind yourself that he is Sovereign, he is God, he is Wisdom and Love, and submit to His will. This can affect the whole tone of the following prayer. Instead of giving a magical genie of the lamp our wish requests, we can instead pursue that relationship with Him for which we were designed.
#4 - "Give us today our daily bread." Not "Give us enough to eat well for the foreseeable future, retire at 55, and hire a maid and drive an Escalade." There are places I would like to go and things I would like to do that we cannot afford, but I remind myself of this verse when I start feeling dissatisfied. Jesus' prayer was for daily bread. Not investment accounts, trips, or fancy houses or cars. We have our family, we have our health, and we always have enough for our daily bread and then some, so what do I have to complain about? Really?
#5 - "Forgive us... as we also have forgiven..." and then it is re-iterated in verses 14 and 15. If we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven. Pretty plain and simple, huh? No room for misinterpretation or ambiguity there. We've talked a number of times about forgiveness before, so I won't elaborate here.
Happy Thursday!
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 6:16-18.
1 comment:
Great points about prayer.
Another thing MacArthur pointed out is that the entire prayer is basically laying claim to promises God has already given us. Absolutely praying His will.
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