Prayer - Matthew 6:5-8
Prayer
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 others. Truly I tell you, 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.
Reflection: As we mentioned yesterday, Jesus introduces three major disciplines in order to put oneself in a position to participate in God's kingdom coming here on earth as it is in heaven. Yesterday we talked about the discipline of giving to those in need and the benefit of secret giving to stave off the tendency in our flesh to give in order to get the approval of others. By giving in secret it is disciplining ourselves to find pleasure in doing God's will and knowing the satisfaction of it. Of course encouragement and thanks is something we all need from time to time, but allow God to orchestrate that not you.
Today Jesus teaches along similar lines with the discipline of prayer. Tomorrow we will look at a model of how we pray, which is most helpful for us but before that Jesus teaches us about why we pray. First, he cites the Pharisees example of long public prayers and their desire to be seen and noticed by others. Jesus labels this hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is wearing a mask. It is pretending to be something you are not. Jesus says let's not play pretend, but engage in the real deal.
What does the real deal look like? First it involves a one on one relationship with you and God in a quiet, secret place free of distractions. Most people, especially if you have kids, will probably need to get up early in the morning to find the time and place. But this is not to say you can't take 20 minutes and do it in the park at lunch. Or 15 minutes before you go to bed. Or on your daily run. The key is that it works for you. Period.
Second Jesus stresses quality over quantity. Length doesn't matter as much as depth. Spend time listening to God before you start spewing out words. What is God saying to you? If you read the bible or a devotional, what is God possibly communicating to you. Tomorrow we will look at why the six petitions of the Lord's Prayer is so timeless and can be used everyday, anytime, anywhere.
Okay, enough talking about it let's pray. Heavenly Father thank you for the gift of prayer, where we can hear from you and talk to you so we might better understand your will for us in Jesus' name, Amen.
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 others. Truly I tell you, 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.
Reflection: As we mentioned yesterday, Jesus introduces three major disciplines in order to put oneself in a position to participate in God's kingdom coming here on earth as it is in heaven. Yesterday we talked about the discipline of giving to those in need and the benefit of secret giving to stave off the tendency in our flesh to give in order to get the approval of others. By giving in secret it is disciplining ourselves to find pleasure in doing God's will and knowing the satisfaction of it. Of course encouragement and thanks is something we all need from time to time, but allow God to orchestrate that not you.
Today Jesus teaches along similar lines with the discipline of prayer. Tomorrow we will look at a model of how we pray, which is most helpful for us but before that Jesus teaches us about why we pray. First, he cites the Pharisees example of long public prayers and their desire to be seen and noticed by others. Jesus labels this hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is wearing a mask. It is pretending to be something you are not. Jesus says let's not play pretend, but engage in the real deal.
What does the real deal look like? First it involves a one on one relationship with you and God in a quiet, secret place free of distractions. Most people, especially if you have kids, will probably need to get up early in the morning to find the time and place. But this is not to say you can't take 20 minutes and do it in the park at lunch. Or 15 minutes before you go to bed. Or on your daily run. The key is that it works for you. Period.
Second Jesus stresses quality over quantity. Length doesn't matter as much as depth. Spend time listening to God before you start spewing out words. What is God saying to you? If you read the bible or a devotional, what is God possibly communicating to you. Tomorrow we will look at why the six petitions of the Lord's Prayer is so timeless and can be used everyday, anytime, anywhere.
Okay, enough talking about it let's pray. Heavenly Father thank you for the gift of prayer, where we can hear from you and talk to you so we might better understand your will for us in Jesus' name, Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment