RECEIVED PRAYERS

Matthew 6: 5-8 (CSB) - “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.”

We spoke yesterday about the Prayers that God Rejects. Today, let us see what Jesus says about the Prayers that God Receives.

Jesus said that God rejects Boastful and Babbling Prayers, He says that our prayers are to be from our hearts (remember He is teaching us that it the motives and not the actions that God looks at).

Jesus says that we should pray from the heart, in private (verse 6). He spoke about going into a private room. He is not meaning that we have to have a literal private room set aside for prayer. He is stressing that Prayer is a matter of the heart – inner motives. When I lead the Pastoral Prayer at our church, I always tell people to be praying from their hearts as I lead vocally. I encourage them to pray about the people and needs that they are burdened with. To silently call out the names, the needs, the desires they have in their hearts. This is their private room, even in the midst of the congregation on Sunday.

This type of Prayer is marked by two elements. The first is Sincerity (6:6) – it is between you and God. You are not Talking to the world, you are talking to the Father. It is to be sincere – our word comes from two Latin words – sine and cere. These mean without wax. In olden days, people would make clay vessels and fire them in a kiln. During the firing process often a vessel would develop small cracks – thus making it second class. Sometimes, unscrupulous vendors would rub the vessels with wax, filling the cracks and not making them visible – so they could sell them as first-class vessels. When you placed the vessel in the sun, the wax would melt, and you would have a “knock-off.” So, shopkeepers would mark that their work was sine cere or without wax.

The second element Jesus gives us is the element of Simplicity (verse 7). We don’t need to have flowery words or great theological sounding words. We just need to get down to the nitty-gritty and tell the Lord what you have on your mind. Remember that Jesus said that, “your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.” (verse 8). Even though He knows what we need, He wants us to come and ask. Think about Peter when he stepped out of the boat to walk on the water. He begins to sink. When he looked at Jesus he doesn’t start a long, flowery, theological prayer – He would have drowned. Jesus knew what he needed, but Peter still prayed, “Lord, save me.”

Today’s devotion talks about essentials in Prayer

·      The Prayers God Rejects – Boasting and Babbling Prayers

·      The Prayers God Receives – Sincere and Simple

Our next devotion will continue the study with the Elements of Prayer in verses 9 – 15.