HOW NOT TO PRAY

Don’t Be Like the Hypocrites

Mark 7:6 “And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;”

1 Corinthians 13:3 “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

Jeremiah 7:8–10 ““Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?”

Don’t Pray to Be Seen By Others

Jesus isn’t condemning praying in public. He is condemning praying in such a way to be seen by others or to show off.

Luke 11:43–44 “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.””

Proverbs 20:6 “Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?”

We should pray in such a way that we view God as our only audience.

Luke 5:16 “But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”

We should remember who we are and who God is.

See Luke 18:9–14...

The Lord will bless the sincere prayers of His saints.

Proverbs 15:8 “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.”

Psalm 34:15 “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.”

Don’t Pray With Insincerity

Jesus isn’t condemning praying for the same things often.

See Luke 18:1-8...

We should guard against thoughtless prayer. Prayer should come from the heart.

Ecclesiastes 5:1–2 “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.”

See 1 Kings 18:20-40...

Exodus 20:7 ““You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”

Psalm 139:4 “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.”

We should approach God as our Heavenly Father who is willing and able to answer our prayers.

Matthew 7:11 “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

James 4:2–3 “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”