Beware of How We Pray

Brethren, as Christians, prayer to God is a familiar topic to us all. Notwithstanding, we must never take prayer for granted. Let us reexamine together this spiritual exercise which is holy and sanctified. It is important to check ourselves regularly to see that we do not pray amiss, thereby missing out on the blessings of God which He desires to bless us with.

Let us look at what constitutes the undesirable or unacceptable way to pray to God. This was highlighted by our Lord Jesus who taught His disciples how not to pray while He was on earth. In Matthew 6:5 we read these words, “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.” These are words of warning from the Lord Himself lest we fall into the same trap as the hypocrites.

Who are these hypocrites? And what was wrong with their prayer? From the reading of Matthew chapter 6, it is obvious that Jesus was referring to the Jewish leaders of His day. Jesus said, “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are….” Why were they hypocrites?
Brethren, prayer that focuses on self is usually hypocritical, because every prayer must focus on God and not on self. The word “hypocrites” originates from and refers to actors who use large masks to portray the roles they are playing. A hypocrite is therefore an actor, or a pretender - a person who simply plays a role. What that person says and does, do not represent what he himself feels or believes but only the image he hopes to create or the impression he wants to communicate to his audience.

The scribes and Pharisees prayed to attract attention and bring honour to themselves, being the manifestation of their righteousness, which Jesus said had no part in His Kingdom.

Christ knew the heart condition of these Jewish leaders for He sees beyond the outward facade. They wanted to be seen and heard by others, hoping to leave a good impression especially on their own fellow Jews. They wanted to satisfy their own pride. Whatever form their prayer may have taken, their motive was wrong, being selfglorifying instead of God-honouring. In this, it was sinful. Remember that the essence of prayer is that in the answer, God alone may be glorified!

We who are the redeemed must beware of how we pray. In our prayers and even our worship, temptations abound. There is nothing so sacred that Satan will not invade. In fact, the more sacred it is, the more he seeks to profane it. Surely very few things please him more than coming between a believer and his Lord in the sacred intimacy of prayer. Sin will follow us into the very presence of God; and no sin is more destructive in the life of a believer than that of pride. During prayer and worship, we may be tempted to shift from a pure heart of worship and begin to worship ourselves instead.

Listen to what Martyn Lloyd-Jones has to say in his book on “Studies in the Sermon on the Mount”- “We tend to think of sin as we see it in rags and in the gutters of life. We look at a drunkard, poor fellow, and we say, there is sin. But that is not the essence of sin. To have a real picture and a true understanding of sin, you must look at some great saint, some unusually devout and devoted man, look at him there on his knees in the very presence of God. Even there self is intruding itself, and the temptation is for him to think about himself, to think pleasantly and pleasurably about himself and to really be worshiping himself rather than God. That, not the other, is the true picture of sin. The other is sin, of course, but there, you do not see it in its essence. Or to put it in another form, if you really want to understand something about the nature of Satan and his activities, the thing to do is not to go to the dregs or the gutters of life. If you really want to know something about Satan, go away to that wilderness where our Lord spent forty days and forty nights. That’s the true picture of Satan, where you see him tempting the very Son of God.”

How true! Jesus was alone praying to His Father. It was in the most private and holy place of communion that Satan presented his strongest temptations before the Son of God.

Thank God that Jesus overcame Satan and his temptations but the point is that we need to be very careful of our pride when we pray. We must keep our focus on God remembering always to give Him the glory and honour. As we pray there must be a conscious effort and desire to empty oneself of self, humbling ourselves before our Almighty God. Matthew 6:5 continues, “for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets.” Standing was a normal position for prayer among the Jews. In the Old Testament we see God’s faithful servants praying while kneeling, while lying prostrate, and while standing. In New Testament times, standing was the most common position and did not necessarily indicate a desire to be noticed. It is therefore not the posture that matters when we pray. In today’s context, some churches adopt the posture of standing, some sitting, and in our case, kneeing which the session feels is the most reverent. But the more important thing is the heart and not the position that God sees --it is the motive that really matters.

The synagogue was the most likely place for public prayers to be offered. It was the local place of assembly, not only for worship but also for various civic and social gatherings. The street corner was also a normal place for prayer, because devout Jews would stop wherever they were at the appointed hour for prayer, even at the street corners. But the word “streets” used here refers to wide, major streets, where large crowds would gather. It was here that the hypocrites loved to pray. There is nothing wrong with praying at a street corner should the occasion arise but something is very wrong if we plan to be there praying just because of the great crowd present so that we could be seen of men, to draw attention to ourselves.

In Luke 18:11-12, Jesus has this to say, “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” This hypocrite Pharisee ended up praying to himself and before other people. God had no part in his prayer. There is nothing wrong with public prayers. Jesus often prayed in the presence of His disciples and in public, as when He blessed the loaves and fishes before feeding the multitude. At the dedication of the Temple, Solomon prayed a long prayer before all the priests, Levites, and leaders of Israel. When, under Ezra’s leadership, the covenant was renewed after the Exile, a group of eight Levites offered a heartfelt, moving prayer of repentance before all the people. When prayer merely employs nice words but with little or no feeling or consists of praising and esteeming another person highly in order to obtain favour, it is not acceptable to God.

What other mistakes did the Jewish leaders make which our Lord mentioned?

In Matthew 6:7 Jesus continued, “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking” Their prayers had become ritualised. The wordings and form of prayers were set, and were then simply read or repeated from memory, repeated over many times. Such prayers are merely a routine and robotic religious exercise. Some people today still deceive themselves into thinking that they are Christians, when all they have done is “to dress their old nature in religious trappings”. It is sad to see many professing Christians go to church Sunday after Sunday, say their ritualistic prayers and go home comforted that they have done a religious thing which they believe have been accepted by God.

Brethren, what about us? When we recite the Lord’s Prayer, are we conscious of the meaning of the words which proceed out of our mouth? Is it sincere? Or is it just a routine? We ought to ponder on the meaning of the words while praying and by faith believe that God will honour His promises.

Another mistake was in thinking that the longer the prayer, the more effective it would be.
Jesus warned regarding the scribes who “devour widows’ houses and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.” (Mark 12:40). A long prayer, of course, is not necessarily an insincere prayer. Ancient rabbis maintained that the longer the prayer, the more likely it would be heard and heeded by God. Big words were used to give it added meaning, and length was confused with sincerity. The mistake was in praying for appearance sake, so as to impress others how religious they were.

Then there was the meaningless repetitious prayer as singled out by Jesus in Matthew 6:7. This was patterned after those of pagan religions. You may remember in their contest with Elijah on Mt. Carmel, the pagan prophets in 1 King 18:26b “called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us.” On and on they repeated the same phrase, trying by the multitude of words to make their god hear and answer them. Through the centuries the Jews had been influenced by such pagan practices.

To day, we see this in certain churches. Members are encouraged to repeat the Lord’s Prayer over and over again in a ritualistic manner but to little or no avail. Certain Charismatics call it worship by repeating the song over and over again till they experience an emotional high. The Lord condemns all these practices of prayer.

In conclusion, brethren, when we pray let us be careful that our prayers do not focus on self-glory and pride. Also that our prayers do not become ritualistic, mechanical, long and repetitious.
Surely there is a need for heart preparation and let our prayers come from a sincere and contrite heart. And let us always pray for the blessed Holy Spirit to lead, guide and give us the utterance to the praise and glory of God’s Name. Amen.

Adopted from Calvary Tengah BPC Weekly,
Heart-to-Heart Chat - written by Elder Peter Goh.
22 October 2006.