"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites... but when you pray, enter into your closet and pray in secret... and when you pray, do not use vain repetitions... after this manner therefore, pray... (Matthew 6:5-9ff)."
For too long we have practiced and preached prayer as a means towards our own ends. I am thinking of several popular teachings and books on the market today which make prayer out to be a ritual through which we can induce God to give us what we want. This philosophy gives us the illusion of a manageable deity, a "god" who is under our control, having no choice but to respond to a prayer properly worded or recited. A person of average intelligence should be able to see that this is a ridiculous caricature of God - it is a misrepresentation and a deception. The widespread popularity and success of these teachings should make us at least a little suspicious as to the spirit which prompts men to perpetuate it. It cannot be the Holy Spirit.
Jesus takes it for granted that His disciples will pray. This is why four times in a row He says, "WHEN you pray" and not "IF you pray." But from these brief excerpts of Scripture we learn that there are at least two classes of prayer. One is unacceptable to God, and the other is well-pleasing to Him. One is of hypocrites, the other is of a pure heart. One is done openly to be seen of men, the other is hidden to be seen of God alone. One is nothing more than vain repetition to accomplish my own ends, and the other accomplishes God's purpose.
Now if we pray the prayer of the hypocrite we are wasting our time. God will not respond, He will not move, He will not listen to such praying. That is not to say that someone (something?) will not answer this self-centered prayer: but the answer, when and if it comes, will not come from the Father in heaven. Much praying is done in vain because the one praying has never gone to the Word to investigate the kind of prayer that is well-pleasing to God. Just as there is a worship that is "spirit-and-truth" and there is a worship which is fleshly and vain, so there is a "spirit-and-truth" sort of praying and a flesh-and-blood praying which is done in vanity.
So by the grace of God we would like to look to the Lord to teach us to pray. Let us ask Him to show us the sort of praying that is acceptable to Him.
HOW NOT TO PRAY
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners that they may be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have already received their reward (Matthew 6:5)."
What makes a prayer hypocritical? It is a prayer which is done in public to be seen of men. It is an outward show to make one appear spiritual to others. It calls attention to one's self through loud volume, lengthy discourse, or spiritual-sounding vocabulary. It is primarily done for ceremonial benefit only, for the listening ear of men, and not for God. We want to be seen and heard and observed. We wish to be known as "prayer warriors" so we prefer to do our praying in public, by the altar, in church, or at the prayer meeting, so everyone can see us. We would have people know us as watchmen, prophets, and intercessors. But what matters most is not how people perceive us, but how we truly are before God.
Hypocrites typically use public praying to preach or make demands upon others. I was in a meeting once when a newcomer was asked to pray. Before long he began talking about his financial needs as if he were talking to the Lord, but it should have been obvious that he was merely letting it be known to all present that he expected a monetary gift. He even said, "I pray that someone will give me the money I need." And of course, after the meeting, someone did. But neither the one who prayed nor the one who "answered" his prayer were in the Spirit. This man should have been rebuked, but no one rose to the occasion, including myself. So we all missed the Spirit, but we learned a lesson. And we never heard from the man again.
Preachers are equally guilty of hypocritical long-windedness. It is interesting to observe how differently someone prays when standing upon a platform before others compared to how they pray in other places. They seem to believe that the spotlight calls for certain words and phrases to be used that they would not otherwise use. This, too, is done for the benefit of the listeners. "Oh, he can pray such powerful prayers!" they exclaim. But this does not mean they are necessarily powerful with God.
Particularly in a day when prayer meetings, prayer gatherings, prayer retreats, and prayer warfare is being emphasized, it is important to understand what the Lord is looking for so we do not fall into a trap of vanity. The experience of many saints seems to indicate that the more we pray in private, the less we will pray in public. The words will be fewer, but they will be far more weighty and valuable. One brother was so broken before God privately that whenever he stepped into the pulpit to pray publicly, all he could do was fall over the lectern and weep, "Oh God!" That is the proper spirit, and how I wish we had more of this kind of prayer.
"But when you pray, enter into your closet, and after you have shut the door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father, Who sees what is done secretly, will reward you openly (Matthew 6:6)."
Why does the Lord prefer secret prayer to prayer done in the synagogue (or in the church building)? Prayer which is most valuable to God is done in secret, in the prayer closet, in the inner chamber where no man's eyes can see and no man's ears can hear what is said and done. Thus, everything said and done in secret is for the Lord's sake. Most public praying is done to be seen of men; hence, it has virtually no worth. An abundance of public prayer cannot make up for a lack of secret prayer.
As a child I took this Scripture literally. I would go into a closet and close the door, praying to the Lord in secret. When I got older I would climb to the top of a tree to pray and read. Or I would sneak out while it was still dark so I could pray. As I look back on my life these are the sweetest times of prayer and communion I have ever experienced.
It does not matter whether your closet is a literal closet or not. The issue is the sort of prayer that is offered, whether it is done to be seen of men or if it is done to be seen of God. If we are praying to the Lord for the Lord's sake then we will want to keep holy things holy, private things private, and sacred things sacred. We will not easily repeat to others the intimate details of these encounters with God. It would seem almost sacrilegious to do so.
Is prayer and worship a lifestyle, or is it an event? If it is an event, if most of our praying is done once a week when we gather together, then we will be lacking spiritually. We will sense this lack when we try to flip a switch and become spiritual enough to pray. But our corporate prayers have their basis in our secret prayers. The real value is not what is seen outwardly, but what we are inwardly, beneath the surface, as we minister to the Lord in secret.
"But when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do: for they think they will be heard for their much speaking (Matthew 6:7)."
The Greek word for "vain" here is interesting. It comes from the base of another word which means "to handle or squeeze" and implies manipulation, as someone would manipulate clay to make it into something like a bowl or a vase. It is used by Jesus in another context, Matthew 15:7-9:
"You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me, for in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.'"
There is such a thing as vain prayer and vain worship. There is such a thing as a sacrifice acceptable to God and a sacrifice unacceptable to God (see the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4). We know exactly what God seeks, and that is, "Spirit and Truth." We also know what He considers to be vanity, manipulation, a waste of time, and self-centered. Vanity includes drawing near to Him with our mouth and honoring Him with our lips while our heart is far from Him. It includes teaching the things of man as if they were the things of God. It includes repeating the same prayers over and over again with a view towards manipulating God. It includes 95% of all that is said and done in a typical church service on Sunday morning. Continually asking God to bless our unacceptable worship every single week is an example of vanity. "In vain do they worship Me."
It may come as a shock and a surprise to most people to learn that much of what they are doing, even the spiritual things (especially the spiritual things), are vanity. People have been taught that so long as they attend church and pray the right prayers for protection, blessings, power or anointing then everything will be well with them. People who relate to God in this way are behaving like heathens - Jesus says so. Heathen people are not irreligious. They worship! They pray! Hypocrites give! Hypocrites fast! Hypocrites do mighty works in the Name of Jesus! But according to Jesus, it counts for nothing. It is all in vain. They do not really KNOW Him, and He does not "know" them either.
"Do not be like [the heathen], for your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him (Matthew 6:8)."
Here is something interesting! Jesus says not to pray as if we would be heard for our much speaking or grandiose speech, because the Father knows what we need before we ask Him. Well then! What is the point of praying? If God knows what I need before I ask, why ask at all? If prayer is nothing more than making my needs known to God then perhaps we can stop praying, since He already knows what they are. But perhaps prayer, as Jesus teaches it, has very little to do with making requests to the Lord for my own needs to be met. If so, then to continue praying on the basis of my needs is vanity. Vanity is not only futility, but it is self-centeredness. Thus, "Do not be like the heathen, who vainly repeat the same prayers with a view towards getting their own needs met."
Jesus does not say that since the Father knows what we need, we do not HAVE to pray - but if He already knows what we need then it should definitely change the WAY we pray. When we do pray we should not behave like a hypocrite or a heathen, obsessed with ourselves. Our needs are already known to the Lord. So it is not as though we have to go to God and inform Him as to the details of our situation in order to fully appraise Him of what is happening. We might give our doctor such detailed information so a proper diagnosis can be made, but the Lord does not need any assistance from us in order to help Him figure out the problem. Nor does He need us to tell Him what needs to be done, as if we know what is called for and He does not.
What if prayer is something deeper than rehearsing my needs to the Lord? What if prayer is a means toward a higher end than getting my circumstances and my surroundings in order? In other words, what if prayer is not about my needs, my desires, my wants, my requests, or my situation at all? What if prayer is meant to meet the LORD'S need? What if, instead of coming to the Lord with OUR expectation as to the outcome, we come to the Lord, interested in knowing what HIS expectation is? What if prayer is not about giving voice to MY will at all, but is about giving voice to HIS will?
This concept may be too radical for some, because it will require a further death to their Self. But since the Father knows what we have need of before we ask, prayer must not be primarily concerned with telling Him what He already knows. Since we are to pray, and since the Lord knows our needs already, does this not indicate a higher calling and a deeper work to be done in prayer than merely voicing my personal prayer requests? To the heathen and the hypocrite, who are so absorbed with Self, vanity (futility and self-centeredness) is evident everywhere, and in their praying in particular. According to the Scriptures, it appears that Jesus is bringing us to a deeper understanding of prayer. So after what manner SHOULD we pray then? Jesus makes it very plain.
cont`d...
For too long we have practiced and preached prayer as a means towards our own ends. I am thinking of several popular teachings and books on the market today which make prayer out to be a ritual through which we can induce God to give us what we want. This philosophy gives us the illusion of a manageable deity, a "god" who is under our control, having no choice but to respond to a prayer properly worded or recited. A person of average intelligence should be able to see that this is a ridiculous caricature of God - it is a misrepresentation and a deception. The widespread popularity and success of these teachings should make us at least a little suspicious as to the spirit which prompts men to perpetuate it. It cannot be the Holy Spirit.
Jesus takes it for granted that His disciples will pray. This is why four times in a row He says, "WHEN you pray" and not "IF you pray." But from these brief excerpts of Scripture we learn that there are at least two classes of prayer. One is unacceptable to God, and the other is well-pleasing to Him. One is of hypocrites, the other is of a pure heart. One is done openly to be seen of men, the other is hidden to be seen of God alone. One is nothing more than vain repetition to accomplish my own ends, and the other accomplishes God's purpose.
Now if we pray the prayer of the hypocrite we are wasting our time. God will not respond, He will not move, He will not listen to such praying. That is not to say that someone (something?) will not answer this self-centered prayer: but the answer, when and if it comes, will not come from the Father in heaven. Much praying is done in vain because the one praying has never gone to the Word to investigate the kind of prayer that is well-pleasing to God. Just as there is a worship that is "spirit-and-truth" and there is a worship which is fleshly and vain, so there is a "spirit-and-truth" sort of praying and a flesh-and-blood praying which is done in vanity.
So by the grace of God we would like to look to the Lord to teach us to pray. Let us ask Him to show us the sort of praying that is acceptable to Him.
HOW NOT TO PRAY
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners that they may be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have already received their reward (Matthew 6:5)."
What makes a prayer hypocritical? It is a prayer which is done in public to be seen of men. It is an outward show to make one appear spiritual to others. It calls attention to one's self through loud volume, lengthy discourse, or spiritual-sounding vocabulary. It is primarily done for ceremonial benefit only, for the listening ear of men, and not for God. We want to be seen and heard and observed. We wish to be known as "prayer warriors" so we prefer to do our praying in public, by the altar, in church, or at the prayer meeting, so everyone can see us. We would have people know us as watchmen, prophets, and intercessors. But what matters most is not how people perceive us, but how we truly are before God.
Hypocrites typically use public praying to preach or make demands upon others. I was in a meeting once when a newcomer was asked to pray. Before long he began talking about his financial needs as if he were talking to the Lord, but it should have been obvious that he was merely letting it be known to all present that he expected a monetary gift. He even said, "I pray that someone will give me the money I need." And of course, after the meeting, someone did. But neither the one who prayed nor the one who "answered" his prayer were in the Spirit. This man should have been rebuked, but no one rose to the occasion, including myself. So we all missed the Spirit, but we learned a lesson. And we never heard from the man again.
Preachers are equally guilty of hypocritical long-windedness. It is interesting to observe how differently someone prays when standing upon a platform before others compared to how they pray in other places. They seem to believe that the spotlight calls for certain words and phrases to be used that they would not otherwise use. This, too, is done for the benefit of the listeners. "Oh, he can pray such powerful prayers!" they exclaim. But this does not mean they are necessarily powerful with God.
Particularly in a day when prayer meetings, prayer gatherings, prayer retreats, and prayer warfare is being emphasized, it is important to understand what the Lord is looking for so we do not fall into a trap of vanity. The experience of many saints seems to indicate that the more we pray in private, the less we will pray in public. The words will be fewer, but they will be far more weighty and valuable. One brother was so broken before God privately that whenever he stepped into the pulpit to pray publicly, all he could do was fall over the lectern and weep, "Oh God!" That is the proper spirit, and how I wish we had more of this kind of prayer.
"But when you pray, enter into your closet, and after you have shut the door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father, Who sees what is done secretly, will reward you openly (Matthew 6:6)."
Why does the Lord prefer secret prayer to prayer done in the synagogue (or in the church building)? Prayer which is most valuable to God is done in secret, in the prayer closet, in the inner chamber where no man's eyes can see and no man's ears can hear what is said and done. Thus, everything said and done in secret is for the Lord's sake. Most public praying is done to be seen of men; hence, it has virtually no worth. An abundance of public prayer cannot make up for a lack of secret prayer.
As a child I took this Scripture literally. I would go into a closet and close the door, praying to the Lord in secret. When I got older I would climb to the top of a tree to pray and read. Or I would sneak out while it was still dark so I could pray. As I look back on my life these are the sweetest times of prayer and communion I have ever experienced.
It does not matter whether your closet is a literal closet or not. The issue is the sort of prayer that is offered, whether it is done to be seen of men or if it is done to be seen of God. If we are praying to the Lord for the Lord's sake then we will want to keep holy things holy, private things private, and sacred things sacred. We will not easily repeat to others the intimate details of these encounters with God. It would seem almost sacrilegious to do so.
Is prayer and worship a lifestyle, or is it an event? If it is an event, if most of our praying is done once a week when we gather together, then we will be lacking spiritually. We will sense this lack when we try to flip a switch and become spiritual enough to pray. But our corporate prayers have their basis in our secret prayers. The real value is not what is seen outwardly, but what we are inwardly, beneath the surface, as we minister to the Lord in secret.
"But when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do: for they think they will be heard for their much speaking (Matthew 6:7)."
The Greek word for "vain" here is interesting. It comes from the base of another word which means "to handle or squeeze" and implies manipulation, as someone would manipulate clay to make it into something like a bowl or a vase. It is used by Jesus in another context, Matthew 15:7-9:
"You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me, for in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.'"
There is such a thing as vain prayer and vain worship. There is such a thing as a sacrifice acceptable to God and a sacrifice unacceptable to God (see the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4). We know exactly what God seeks, and that is, "Spirit and Truth." We also know what He considers to be vanity, manipulation, a waste of time, and self-centered. Vanity includes drawing near to Him with our mouth and honoring Him with our lips while our heart is far from Him. It includes teaching the things of man as if they were the things of God. It includes repeating the same prayers over and over again with a view towards manipulating God. It includes 95% of all that is said and done in a typical church service on Sunday morning. Continually asking God to bless our unacceptable worship every single week is an example of vanity. "In vain do they worship Me."
It may come as a shock and a surprise to most people to learn that much of what they are doing, even the spiritual things (especially the spiritual things), are vanity. People have been taught that so long as they attend church and pray the right prayers for protection, blessings, power or anointing then everything will be well with them. People who relate to God in this way are behaving like heathens - Jesus says so. Heathen people are not irreligious. They worship! They pray! Hypocrites give! Hypocrites fast! Hypocrites do mighty works in the Name of Jesus! But according to Jesus, it counts for nothing. It is all in vain. They do not really KNOW Him, and He does not "know" them either.
"Do not be like [the heathen], for your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him (Matthew 6:8)."
Here is something interesting! Jesus says not to pray as if we would be heard for our much speaking or grandiose speech, because the Father knows what we need before we ask Him. Well then! What is the point of praying? If God knows what I need before I ask, why ask at all? If prayer is nothing more than making my needs known to God then perhaps we can stop praying, since He already knows what they are. But perhaps prayer, as Jesus teaches it, has very little to do with making requests to the Lord for my own needs to be met. If so, then to continue praying on the basis of my needs is vanity. Vanity is not only futility, but it is self-centeredness. Thus, "Do not be like the heathen, who vainly repeat the same prayers with a view towards getting their own needs met."
Jesus does not say that since the Father knows what we need, we do not HAVE to pray - but if He already knows what we need then it should definitely change the WAY we pray. When we do pray we should not behave like a hypocrite or a heathen, obsessed with ourselves. Our needs are already known to the Lord. So it is not as though we have to go to God and inform Him as to the details of our situation in order to fully appraise Him of what is happening. We might give our doctor such detailed information so a proper diagnosis can be made, but the Lord does not need any assistance from us in order to help Him figure out the problem. Nor does He need us to tell Him what needs to be done, as if we know what is called for and He does not.
What if prayer is something deeper than rehearsing my needs to the Lord? What if prayer is a means toward a higher end than getting my circumstances and my surroundings in order? In other words, what if prayer is not about my needs, my desires, my wants, my requests, or my situation at all? What if prayer is meant to meet the LORD'S need? What if, instead of coming to the Lord with OUR expectation as to the outcome, we come to the Lord, interested in knowing what HIS expectation is? What if prayer is not about giving voice to MY will at all, but is about giving voice to HIS will?
This concept may be too radical for some, because it will require a further death to their Self. But since the Father knows what we have need of before we ask, prayer must not be primarily concerned with telling Him what He already knows. Since we are to pray, and since the Lord knows our needs already, does this not indicate a higher calling and a deeper work to be done in prayer than merely voicing my personal prayer requests? To the heathen and the hypocrite, who are so absorbed with Self, vanity (futility and self-centeredness) is evident everywhere, and in their praying in particular. According to the Scriptures, it appears that Jesus is bringing us to a deeper understanding of prayer. So after what manner SHOULD we pray then? Jesus makes it very plain.
cont`d...