The Gospel of the Kingdom - Matthew - Praying - Part 2

 

Text: Matthew 6:5-8 ““And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. ⁹ In this manner, therefore, pray….”

Hope the short time studying Thanksgiving has been a blessing to you. I pray that you and your family had a blessed and glorious Thanksgiving Day.

The issues Jesus is addressing – giving, prayer, fasting, treasures, and trust are all practical considerations. He starts with the emphasis on applying the Kingdom principles to real-life and powerfully applies it in verse 33. We have looked at giving, now let us move into the second of these areas – the area of praying – we will consider it in two major parts – the Essentials in Prayer and the Elements in Prayer.

To start with the essentials in prayer, we need to see that Jesus teaches about prayer that God receives in these verses.

That brings us to consider the prayers that God does receive.

Jesus tells us that we should pray from the heart, pray in private (verse 6). He speaks about going into our closet, this is a metaphorical picture of having a special place, a place where we withdraw from the world.

He wants us to remember that prayer is a matter of the heart – the inner motives of a time with the Father. Jesus says it is marked by two important elements. The first is sincerity (verse 6) – it is between you and God. Go back and read what He says about our charitable deeds. God is not interested in personalities and boastfulness, He is looking at our hearts.

Next, Jesus reminds us to pray with simplicity (verse 7). We don’t need to use theological jargon, flowery speech, memorized phrases. No, Jesus is telling us to get down to the nitty-gritty and tell the Lord what you have on your mind. Pay attention to verse 8 – “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” We don’t need to impress God – in fact, there is nothing we can do that would impress Him. Even though He knows what we need, He wants us to come and ask.

We have talked about the essentials of Prayer. We saw the Prayers God Rejects – Boasting and Babbling Prayers, and also the Prayers God Receives – Sincere and Simple.

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