TRUE WORSHIP AND PRAYER
Matthew 6:5-8

A British soldier one night was caught creeping back to his quarters from the nearby woods.  Taken before his commanding officer, he was charged with holding communications with the enemy.  The man pleaded he had gone into the woods to pray by himself.  That was his only defense.  “Down on your knees and pray now!” roared the officer.  “You never needed it so much!”  Expecting immediate death, the soldier knelt and poured out his soul in eloquent prayer.  ‘You may go,” said the officer simply, when he had finished.  “I believe your story.  If you hadn’t drilled so often, you could not do so well at review.”

In verses 5 through 8 of this chapter, Jesus begins to describe what sincere prayer really is.  He begins by addressing the question, Before whom are we to pray?  Friends, we can pray before other men.  Jesus said, But 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.  In Jesus’ day, prayers had become mere ritual, a matter of routine for most people.  You had certain designated times for prayer and, at those moments, you repeated something from memory.  Prayers were said, not prayed.

Also, the Jews had developed a prayer for every occasion.  If your camel became sick, there was special prayer just for that purpose.  If the weather was too wet, or too dry there was a prayer for that as well.  And the list went on and on.  Now there is nothing wrong with any of these situations or praying for each one, but it got to be that you read a prayer on page 91 for a sick lamb or page 32 for some wilted wheat or page 57 for a sick child.  They became head-prayers, not heart-prayers.

Finally, the Jews prayed to be seen and heard by others.  They prayed to attract attention, to bring honor to themselves.  So, if this was your motivation, where would you go to pray?  Well, the synagogue would be a great place because people always were there.  The street corners were also excellent because there you could always get a crowd. 

But the trouble of praying so that you are heard by people is that often they are the only ones who hear you. 

Jesus goes on to state that when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.  Friends, there is no spiritual timetable for prayer.  God never spells out when a person should pray.  In fact, the Apostle Paul taught that we are to pray without ceasing, that is, we are to always in an attitude of prayer.  When you are shopping in the mall, be in an attitude of prayer.  When you are mowing your lawn, be in an attitude of prayer. 

And, Jesus says that we are to pray in our inner room.  Jesus is saying that prayers should be made in the most private place possible.  We need to learn to pray in secret before we can learn to pray in public.  Jesus often withdrew alone to pray so that the attention would be drawn away from Himself and focused only upon God.  What a valuable lesson for us to learn as well.

Father, I must confess that I have a lot to learn about prayer.  Father, give me an attitude toward prayer that is pleasing to You.  Help me not to pray just to call attention to myself.  Give me a heart for prayer that I might see the power that comes from prayer.  I ask this in the name of Christ Jesus.  Amen.

 

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