Matt
6:5-8
The greatest privilege for Christians is prayer.
This gift allows us to present our requests to God. In Jesus' times people had the
same problems with prayer as we do these days.
Matthew 6:5 ESV
[5] “And
when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray
in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly,
I say to you, they have received their reward.
Some people saw prayer as a performance. We sometimes have this problem when our representative
prayers put more emphasis on eloquent words than the message to God. The person
praying is showing off.
Matthew 6:7 ESV
[7] “And
when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that
they will be heard for their many words.
Others may pray as if it were casting spells or
the repetition will give the prayer more power. Christians will sometimes pray in
tongues or pretend to. Our prayers sound not be for personal desire.
Jesus tells us that prayer is a sacred conversation
between God and us.
Matthew 6:6 ESV
[6] But when you pray, go into your room and shut
the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret
will reward you.
Whether we offering a meditative prayer, a thanksgiving prayer, a repentance prayer or
a heart felt prayer, we need to remember that we are praying to our father.
Matthew 6:8 ESV
[8] Do not be like them, for your Father knows
what you need before you ask him.
Jesus then teaches his disciples how to pray.
We start with a confession that God is our holy
father. Our GOD the father knows what is best and will sometimes give us what we
ask and other times deny us what we ask.
God is our prayer. Our conversation with God develops
our relationship with God. It brings us to a point that we reflect on our situation
and looks at what we desire and need. The prayer humbles us when we understand that
God is in control and we are not. It puts us in a place that allows us to see who
we are and who God is.
When children are adopted, the fathers do not
force their adopted children to call them father. Over time, the fathers earn that
title. The adopted children see them as their true fathers and will call them father.
God wants us to know that we are his children,
and he is our father.
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