Introduction
‘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. 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. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.’ Matthew 6:5-8
HOW TO AND HOW NOT TO PRAY
Many passages in the New Testament emphasise the importance and necessity of prayer for all Christians. However, Jesus addresses the subject with the most depth, giving practical advice on how to pray and how not to pray.
Jesus expects His disciples to pray, such is clear by His use of the word ‘when’, not ‘if,’ Matthew 6:5-6. Jesus is emphasising the need to be ‘sincere’ in prayer. Those who pray to be seen by men, as those who do charitable deeds with the same motive, have no reward from the heavenly Father, Matthew 6:5.
Hypocrites or pretenders are often diligent to exercise their ‘religiousness’ in the most obvious way in order to gain the acclaim of others. These individuals are full of pride and lovers of themselves. Such does not please the Lord, Luke 18:10-14 / James 4:6 / Matthew 23 / 2 Timothy 3:2-9.
Going into a room and closing the door to pray, Matthew 6:6, suggests that Jesus is stressing the advantage of solitude in prayer. We can more easily develop sincerity in prayer privately.
Generally, there will be fewer distractions and disturbances since we can better control the environment when isolated from others. The essence of prayer is seeking after God, and it is undoubtedly easier to seek Him out in solitude because the temptation to pray to be seen by men is removed.
God rewards those who petition Him in a proper spirit by granting their requests that are made in accordance with His will, 1 John 5:14-15. We mustn’t conclude that Jesus is here prohibiting public prayer.
The New Testament authorises Christians to engage in public prayer, Acts 2:42 / 1 Timothy 2:8 / James 5:16, although it should be noted that Christ seemed to pray more often when He was alone, Matthew 14:23 / Matthew 26:36-46 / Mark 1:35 / Luke 5:16 / Luke 6:12 / Luke 9:18.
Our Lord underscores the need for ‘simplicity’ in prayer, Ecclesiastes 5:2. We must avoid using meaningless, mechanical phrases. The pagans were often guilty of such, 1 Kings 18:26 / Acts 19:34.
Note that Jesus doesn’t condemn repetition in prayer, He condemns ‘babbling’ which is a vain repetition, Matthew 6:7-8. A prayer can be repetitive and still be meaningful, Matthew 26:44. Offering thanks for food at every meal could turn into vain repetition, but not if we are truly grateful and mindful of the fact that God is the One who gives all things.
The beauty of the Lord’s model prayer, which we will consider shortly, is its simplicity. It is less than sixty words in Greek. If we follow Christ’s example, our public prayers will be shorter and our private prayers will be longer.
To have God as our Father is to have the ‘security’ of knowing that our prayers are heard, thus, vain repetition is unnecessary. Our needs are known even before the first petition is uttered, Matthew 6:8.
Consequently, some wonder why prayer is necessary. It cannot be said that God is ignorant and in need of being informed, nor is He reluctant that we need to persuade Him. It appears that God imparts His gifts in response to our eagerness to receive them, Luke 11:5-13 / James 4:2.
Even if this weren’t the case, we should pray simply because we are commanded to do so, 1 Thessalonians 5:17. Since such is physically impossible, perhaps the meaning is that God expects His children to have a mindset that continually seeks to be in tune with Him. If such is correct, then to ‘pray without ceasing’ is to be mindful always of the Lord and His will in our everyday decisions and activities.
It’s to communicate with the Lord silently and informally throughout our day, offering brief words of thanks and praise as well as confessing shortcomings and expressing petitions. These brief prayers can and should be offered regularly as we go about our business.
Let me hasten to state that I am not advocating that all of our prayers be brief, isolated thoughts. I believe it is wise to also make a custom of offering more in-depth prayers at certain times during the day. Daniel is an excellent example of this, Daniel 6:10.
God must be approached with confidence, not doubting, in prayer, Hebrews 4:16 / James 1:5-8. Even if we feel inadequate to express ourselves fully before God, we can be comforted in the realisation that God knows our hearts, Romans 8:26-27.
Patience and persistence are also required, Luke 18:1-8. It must be remembered that the Father ‘is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think’, Ephesians 3:20.
There’s nothing more terrifying when a person becomes a Christian and they don’t know how to pray, they don’t know what to say or how to say it, they don’t where to begin and where to end.
This is to be expected, after all, Jesus’ own disciples didn’t know how to pray, even though they had heard and seen many people pray. But there must have been something about the way Jesus prayed and the words He used that encouraged the disciples to want to learn, Luke 11:1.
‘This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.’ Matthew 6:9-13
In addition to the principles of prayer that Jesus shared with His disciples, He also offered an example for them to consider and learn from.
There are a few religious groups who repeat this prayer every time they meet together, but Jesus never intended for these words to be recited week in and week out. If He wanted this prayer to be recited, then this would go against everything He taught earlier about vain repetition in prayer, Matthew 6:7.
Notice that Jesus’ didn’t tell them they were to use these exact words, He said this is HOW we should pray, we should pray in this manner, Matthew 6:9. We would call it a model prayer because the prayer itself reminds us of what our prayers should be about.
When Jesus prayed, He always addressed the heavenly Father, Matthew 6:9, and He did so in a reverent manner, Psalm 145:1 / Mark 14:36.
God is our Father and we are His children. Many times, Jesus got into trouble with the religious leaders because He called God, His Father. This is all about our relationship with God and so, when we pray, it’s always good to begin our prayer by recognising who He is and who we are in relation to Him.
The word ‘hallowed’, Matthew 6:9, is similar to the word ‘holy,’ which means to be separate for God’s purpose, to be dedicated to Him. Remember that God is a Holy God and His name is holy and He deserves our respect because He is in heaven.
It’s here we see the balance of our relationship with the Lord, yes, He is our Father, but He is also to be hallowed by us, kept holy, we must respect Him when we’re speaking to Him in prayer.
God’s Name should be considered holy, it is not common or something to be treated lightly. When we address the Father in prayer, we should be as respectful as possible.
After all, we’re not just speaking to anybody but to the Almighty, the only true and living God! If we give respect and honour to our earthly father, how much more should we give to God!
Jesus told then to pray that God’s kingdom come, Matthew 6:10. At the time these instructions were given to the disciples, the kingdom of God hadn’t yet come, Matthew 16:18-19 / Mark 9:1 / Acts 2.
The kingdom of God has come, and Christ is now reigning, Colossians 1:13 / 1 Corinthians 15:24-25. Instead, we should pray that the kingdom is enlarged.
The disciples were to pray that men would accept the kingdom reign of Jesus in the sense that the will of the Father be done on earth as it is done in heaven, Matthew 6:10.
As the will of the Father is done in the hearts of men and women on earth as it is done in heaven, then the kingdom comes. Jesus here asks the disciples to pray that people accept the heavenly kingdom’s reign in order that they accept His kingship that was yet to come.
The words, ‘Your will be done’ is a petition of the present, Matthew 6:10. This has everything to do with the will of God and our prayers need to be in accordance with the will of God.
To offer such a prayer is to commit ourselves to the doing of God’s will as well as to the teaching of that will to others and encouraging them to also submit to it.
This is essentially a prayer for the spread of the Gospel and obedience to it. We should pray that God’s will be done everywhere, at all times, and by all beings.
The whole point of this is basically praying that those in the world who don’t have Christ will accept what God has done for them and come to be obedient to Him and His will, and so, enjoy the benefits of living in God’s kingdom.
Notice also that God is the focal point in the prayer, we start by praising Him, for who He is, whilst recognising His holiness and then we pray that God’s deepest desires and will for mankind, will be established on earth, just as it has been established in heaven. To know what the Lord’s will is, we need to study His Word, Romans 12:1-2, and spend time with mature Christians.
Notice how we’ve moved from the focus of being on God to ourselves in Matthew 6:11. Notice that He speaks our our daily needs.
In the A.A. they have a saying which says, ‘keep it in the day,’ which basically means take one day at a time. I think that’s good advice because this is what Jesus says over and over again, Matthew 6:28-34.
Notice our daily needs are the basic requirements for life, food, clothing and drink. When the Israelites were in the desert God provided Manna ‘daily’, Exodus 16:21.
The petition for ‘daily bread’, Matthew 6:11, isn’t for milk and honey, the symbols of luxury, but for bread that will be sufficient for this day, Exodus 16:12-31.
God will supply all necessary daily needs if we seek His kingdom first, Matthew 6:25-33 / Philippians 4:19. Of course, we must realise that there is a difference between our wants and our needs. We must be careful not to let prosperity interfere with thankfulness for daily needs, Proverbs 30:8-9.
None of us has a promise that we’ll be here tomorrow that’s why we have to learn to live and rely on God ‘one day at a time’, as Lina Martell once sang.
God is the one who is the giver of all blessings and He’s the one who will take care of our needs, but we need to learn to put our trust in God to provide what we need today, even though there may be times when we can’t see what will happen tomorrow, 1 Timothy 6:7.
Jesus uses the word ‘debts’ here in Matthew 6:12, in a spiritual way. Our sins are like spiritual debts to God, Matthew 18:21-35. Jesus elaborates upon this thought immediately after the close of this model prayer.
It’s difficult enough to pray for forgiveness when our hearts are broken because we know we’ve hurt God with our actions or thoughts, but it’s even more difficult to forgive those who have hurt us, especially if they are Christians who should know better.
But notice the condition that Jesus places upon our prayer for forgiveness, He says we can only ask for forgiveness when we have also shown forgiveness toward others, Matthew 6:12. In other words, we can’t expect God to forgive us, if we’re not willing to forgive others.
Now we can fight and try and justify our unforgiveness to others but notice that Jesus stresses this point again in Matthew 6:14-15. It never ceases to amaze me that people hold on to grudges for years, I was speaking to someone recently who was telling me about a brother really offending him many years ago and he still has the emails to prove it!
We need to remember that we have all sinned against each other at one time or another and we need forgiveness as much as the next person.
Do we really believe that God will forgive us if we’re holding people’s sins against them? Yes, it’s hard, yes, we can’t forget, as God can forget, but we must forgive, otherwise, there’s no forgiveness for us.
Jesus is also teaching us here that we need to admit that we sin, and we too need forgiveness and so when we become Christians confessing our sins to God is really important, otherwise, no forgiveness will be available to us, 1 John 1:8-10.
Jesus made this request of the Father, ‘Do not lead us into temptation’, Matthew 6:13. This request may seem somewhat troubling in light of James 1:13. Why would anyone pray that the Father does not lead him or her into temptation if God does not tempt anyone in the first place?
The solution is that this phrase could be translated, as ‘Do not lead us into trials’. There are plenty of trials to deal with in life without us praying for anymore! Of course, when trials are present, we learn to face them joyfully, James 1:2-4.
Jesus isn’t saying that God will lead us into temptation, James 1:13, but what He is saying is that we need to ask God for deliverance from temptation, in order to help us with our weaknesses, and to strengthen us against the works of the devil. If we want to resist the devil so that he flees from us, we need to stay close to God and submit to His ways, James 4:7-10.
Many people misinterpret 1 Corinthians 10:13. Yes, we all get tempted, yes, God won’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, but He doesn’t provide a way of escape from the temptation.
The Greek text in 1 Corinthians 10:13, implies that God will give you the strength to endure the temptation, in other words, God will be with you and help you through that temptation.
Next is an element of prayer that is rarely heard publicly, ‘deliver us from the evil one’ or keep us from evil, Matthew 6:13 / Luke 22:31-32. Prayers for forgiveness are heard regularly, but not for the prevention of sin.
Faithful disciples of Christ should pray to be delivered from the evil one, they should pray to be able to escape the severe temptations that the devil may present to them. The second half of this verse highlights the fact that our prayers and life should always praise God.
Prayer is critical in the life of the Christian and the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ or maybe we should call the ‘disciple’s prayer’, after all, He’s teaching them how to pray, and we see the example of how to pray.
A parallel to this section of text can be found in Luke 11:1-4. Therein Jesus’ disciples ask Him to teach them how to pray. The Lord then proceeds to utter a prayer very similar to the one Matthew records. The fact that Jesus responds to His disciples’ requests implies that we can learn how to pray.
It isn’t a gift that is possessed by some and not by others but a talent in which we may grow and develop. One of the greatest needs in growing as Christians are to learn to be more prayerful.
To do such will teach greater dependence upon God and cause all to be more introspective. Our Father wants us to be prayerful people, He wants us to be sincere and feel secure in the prayers we offer to Him.
May we always be mindful of the beauty of simplicity when it comes to talking to Him, as well as the benefits of seclusion. Let’s strive to recognise God’s awesome nature in our prayers as well as His plan for our lives.
May we appreciate the providence of God which sustains us on a daily basis and utter prayers that reflect our reliance both physically and spiritually upon Him. Let’s strive to manifest a gracious disposition to others as we endeavour to more fully comprehend our own personal need for forgiveness.
We must remember who God is, we must remember that He is a Holy God, and speak to Him with the uttermost respect, we must remember that our prayers need to be in accordance with His will, and He is desperate for His will to be carried out here on earth.
Take one day at a time and trust God to provide our daily needs, not our daily greeds, ask God to help us to forgive others whilst we ask God to forgive us, and finally ask Him to help us through those temptations which the devil sends our way.
