An Honest Conversation about Prayer

“When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

Things I noticed upon first reading:

“when you pray” not if you pray

Hypocrites or insincere people

Hypocrites are not actually praying to God but to themselves.

This is good news because we don’t have to be professionals prayer warriors.

Their is a reward for prayer

prayer doesn’t need to be long but honest.

Your father knows what you need.

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. Christian Praying (5, 6)

How can we pretend to be praising God, when in reality we are concerned that men will praise us?

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. Christian Praying (5, 6)

Go into your room and shut the door, Jesus said. We are to close the door against disturbance and distraction but also to shut out the prying eyes of men and to shut ourselves in with God

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. Christian Praying (5, 6)

For he sees not the outward appearance only but the heart, not the one who is praying only but the motive for which he prays. The essence of Christian prayer is to seek God. Behind all true prayer lies the conversation which God initiates:

Thou hast said, ‘Seek ye my face.’

My heart says to thee,

‘Thy face, Lord, do I seek.’

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. Christian Praying (5, 6)

R. V. G. Tasker points out that the Greek word for the ‘room’ into which we are to withdraw to pray (tameion) ‘was used for the store-room where treasures might be kept’. The implication may be, then, that ‘there are treasures already awaiting’ us when we pray.

THE TRUE MEASUREMENT OF PRAYER IS WHAT A MAN DOES IN SECRET

The Biblical Expositor, Volume 3: Matthew–Revelation 3. The Practice of Kingdom Righteousness (6:1–7:12)

It is concerned first of all with the glory of God and the coming of His Kingdom on earth. The prayer for personal needs is important, but secondary to spiritual concerns.

The illustration of elisha praying down fire from heaven while the paagan people paraded and prayed all day

Prayer is a necessity

Prayer is for everyone

Prayer is powerful

Prayer is personal

Matthew A. Seek Your Reward from God, Not from People (6:1–18)

When we pray over meals or with our children at bedtime, do we really think about what we are saying? When we sing the words of a song of worship to the Lord, do we really mean them