The Right Motive for Prayer
Notes
Transcript
Handout
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Why do people pray? Some pray…
Because they have a problem and they want God to bail them out.
Because they want to seem religious or spiritual.
Because they have tired everything else and failed.
Or Because they really want to have a relationship with God and know Him more.
But why do you pray? Or more importantly, how do you pray? How you answer these questions will go a long a long way toward examining your motives for prayer.
This passage is speaking to those who do pray- people who take prayer seriously. Prayer is one of the greatest acts of Christian believer. Talking to God, whether by thought or tongue, is the way a believer fellowships with God; and the one thing God desires is fellowship with man
Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, And my servant whom I have chosen: That ye may know and believe me, And understand that I am he: Before me there was no God formed, Neither shall there be after me.
Thus, it is essential that we pray and pray often, sharing all day long.
However, that we do pray is not the concern of Christ this point in his message. His concern is how we pray. It is possible to pray amiss, with the wrong motive and in the wrong way. It is possible to pray and never be heard of God. It is possible to pray and to be speaking only to ourselves, to have our prayer go no higher thane our own ears. Therefore, Christ sets out to teach the true disciple the right and wrong motives for praying.
TheWrong Motive
TheWrong Motive
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
The wrong motive for prayer as Christ points out is to be seen of men. The preliminary things need to be looked at before discussing this point.
Praying - even loving to pray - is not a sign that a person really knows God.
The fact that a person really knows God means he does pray. No matter what a man my thing in his mind, if really knows God and really believes in God, he talks to God. There is nothing that could keep him from praying. He knows God personally - knows Him as his Father who loves and cares for him ever so deeply. Just like a child who really loves his Father, he talk and tells his father everything.
This is says something to the person who prays primarily in public and prays little, if any, in private. He must search the genuineness of his Heart.
Christ says a man who prays to be seen by men loves to pray, but he is a hypocrite.
The places where he loves to pray are out in public, in the synagogue (church), and in the streets (restaurants, and other public places).
Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
The man who only prays in public pray for only one reason: not because he loves to pray or loves God, but because he loves recognition.
The sin in this person isn’t failing to pray. The sin is pride, to be heard only of men, not of God.
Praying in public should be done. it is important to pray in church and for your family. There is a danger, however, in public prayer: having your pride not in check. it is easy to have the mindset of being heard by men in a public place.
Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
Prayer to be heard of men, is only heard of men. It does not farther, their motive makes them a hypocrite.
Our God is a holy God and prayer is the vehicle that God has given us to approach Him. Indeed, prayer offered by a Christian harboring sin is akin to a plane without wings, a car without wheels or a boat without a rudder. Make no mistake about it—God wants to hear our prayer but flagrant disregard for the commandments of God will quickly stop His ear.
What kind of costume do you wear when you pray?
The Right Motive
The Right Motive
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Praying to be heard by God.
There are three things need to be looked at:
1. The willingness to take time to pray: “when thou Prayest.” There has to be the will to pray. The believer must take time to get alone and pray. Too few ever take time to pray, and even fewer spend more than a few minutes in prayer. too many stay all wrapped up in the world and its day to day affairs, some of which are necessary, but how much more necessary is prayer.
2. A closet is a necessity. The believer should have a private place deliberately chosen for prayer.
3. A personal relationship with God: a Father-son relationship. God is our Father, He is available as all fathers are to be available to their children. We are to go to Him, pray, share, commune and let Him shower us with His care and protection, meeting our every need.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Here are a few reasons to get alone to pray.
Get alone out of everyone’s sight.
Get alone to avoid interruptions.
Get alone to allow God the freedom to work in your heart as He wishes.
On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
When Hutson Taylor was sailing to China to begin his missionary work, his ship was in great danger. The wind had died, and the current was carrying them toward sunken reefs which were close to islands inhabited by cannibals—so close they could see them building fires on the shore. Everything they tried was to no avail. In his journal Taylor recorded what happened next: The Captain said to me, “Well, we have done everything that can be done.” A thought occurred to me, and I replied, “No, there is one thing we have not done yet.” “What is that?” he queried. “Four of us on board are Christians. Let us each retire to his own cabin, and in agreed prayer ask the Lord to give us immediately a breeze.”
Taylor prayed briefly and then, certain that the answer was coming, went up on the deck and asked the first officer to let down the sails. “What would be the good of that?” he answered roughly. I told him we had been asking a wind from God; that it was coming immediately. Within minutes the wind did began to blow, and it carried them safely past the reefs. Taylor wrote: Thus God encouraged me ere landing on China’s shores to bring every variety of need to Him in prayer, and to expect that He would honour the name of the Lord Jesus and give the help each emergency required.
Knowing that our prayers touch the heart of our loving Father in Heaven and that He can meet any need, we should be confident that He will hear and answer when we cry out to Him.
The answers to prayer are clearly seen by a thinking and honest observer, God has promised to answer the true prayer of a genuine believer. God takes care of the genuine believer with a special care. Sometimes the answer is seen in:
In a renewed strength.
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
In a provision of some necessity
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
In a conquest of some great temptation or trail.
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
In a peace that passes all understanding.
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
In a soundness of mind that is incomprehensible.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.