“Let us pray…”
One thing we claim as Christians is the beauty of being able to take all our praise, concerns, pleas and so much more to our Lord in prayer. Unfortunately, most Christians don’t avail themselves of this rich resource nearly enough. Instead of being our first port of call, it is often referred to when our own attempts at resolving things have been exhausted. Even worse, some of our people don’t even know how to pray ‘properly.’
The Pharisees thought they knew how to pray, but Jesus is rather critical of the way the Pharisees prayed. In the Sermon on the Mount, He warns us not to pray like hypocrites who love to stand on street corners or even in places of public worship so that they can be seen by others (see also Lk 18:9ff). Nor should we think that our many words and empty phrases will twist God’s arm to give us what we ask for. Rather, Jesus encourages us to go into our room, and shut the door, for our heavenly Father sees in secret and rewards in secret and knows before we even ask what we need. (Mat 6:5-8; emphasis added).
Please notice, Jesus did not say so that our prayers should never be heard by others. Scripture records many prayers and perhaps the best-known one is the Lord’s Prayer and it is a pattern of prayer which we would do well to follow. There is rich theology in the Lord’s prayer. It’s not wishy-washy. It’s not full of ‘christianese’ (i.e: empty phrases), and it is not overly wordy. Rather, it is well structured and has the Kingdom of God and the glory of its reigning King at its heart. Our prayer life could do much worse than if we only prayed the Lord’s prayer every day!
When we follow a pattern of prayer as found in the Lord’s prayer, it will change the way we think about God’s kingdom, ourselves, our neighbour and the honour of our victorious and glorious King. It will also change the way we think about praying.
Praying is not about showing others how pious we are or how clever we are with our words and phrases or even trying to impress someone with our many words. If that is our goal, then any reward we get from those who hear us is all we will ever receive. The Pharisees were guilty of this very thing and sometimes as Christians, we easily fall into the same trap.
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus commends a secret piety. We can either seek our own glory by exalting ourselves before others or we can humble ourselves and seek the glory of our Father in heaven. We cannot do both! Genuine and authentic prayer is never about impressing our neighbour. As Jesus says, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Mat 23:10).
Let us be a people of prayer, either in our own small corner room or when required in public. But let us also do it in a way that is honouring to our Father in heaven and exalts His glorious name among us. JZ.
PS: Two worthwhile resources on prayer:
Paul E Miller “A praying life” (Connecting with God is a distracting world)
Albert Mohler: “The Prayer that Turns the World Upside Down: The Lord’s Prayer as a Manifesto for Revolution.”