Posted on 05/10/2019 11:48:12 AM PDT by metmom
“‘When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full’” (Matthew 6:5).
Over the centuries, various questionable practices and attitudes have affected the prayer life of God’s people—ritualization, prescription prayers, limitations of time and place, the love of long prayers, and meaningless repetitions. But the worst fault was when God’s people prayed mainly to be noticed by others, especially by fellow Jews. This fault was inherently sinful because it originated from and helped intensify pride. Such an evil, self-glorifying motive was and is the ultimate perversion of God’s gift of prayer, which is intended to glorify Him (cf. John 14:13) and express our dependence on His grace.
Prayer that focuses on self is always hypocritical; it stands in sharp contrast to true prayer, which focuses on God. Hypocrites are simply actors, persons playing a role, as the Greeks did on stage with their large masks. What such persons do and say is seldom sincere, but merely designed to create an image.
The scribes and Pharisees’ prayers served the same purpose as so many of their activities—to draw praise and honor to themselves. This is the type of righteousness that has no place in the kingdom of God (cf. Matt. 5:20).
The more sacred something is, such as prayer, the more Satan wants to profane it. And one way to do that is to inject pride and self-centeredness into prayer—to get believers to pray as the Pharisees did. So if you pray to be impressive to fellow believers, you are praying for the wrong reason.
Ask Yourself
What should be the tone and purpose of public prayer? Should it be any different from your private interactions with God? What could you do to help make sure you’re addressing God and not your audience?
Studying God’s Word ping
I’m always amused at folks who seriously pray to win the lottery.
I am so thrilled to see this topic. These are the reported words of Jesus as they are reflected in the hearsay book of Matthew but like all history books they are rarely written by eye witnesses. But be that as it may , here we have direct commands of Jesus on prayer which is blatantly violated by every commercial “ church” i know of in shameless disregard of the mandates of Jesus Christ himself. Look not only at 6:5 but look also at 6:6 and then , most importantly at Jesus telling us to pray to GOD— Not Him!!
“6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,......”
Now clearly— YOU ARE NOT TO PRAY OUT LOUD FOR CROWD CONSUMPTION. You are ONLY to pray away from people as Jesus practiced. He NEVER prayed to a crowd!! Even when he blesses the fishes he bowed in silence!!. These public prayers are theater!! Thy fall on deaf ears and are worthless “Babble”. When I see this pagan practice I extricate myself.
“I’m always amused at folks who seriously pray to win the lottery.”
And then go on to claim their prayers were unanswered. He answers all prayers. People don’t understand that sometimes the answer is no.
"Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few" (Ecclesiastes 5:2 AV).
particularly public prayer!!
"And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
God be merciful to me a sinner.I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted" (Luke 18:13,14 AV).
another great topic sometime.
I tell you if you persist in prayer your Father in Heaven will Hear you and answer. Jesus in the garden of Gethsemani prayed the same prayer over and over.
Welcome to FreeRepublic.
Does the church you attend have corporate prayer?
If we are to pray only in silence, or alone, why say, “Our Father...”? Why not “Heavenly Father” or some other phrase to indicate explicitly that it personal prayer?
Also, if Jesus always prayed in silence or alone, why do we have so many of His prayers recorded in the Gospels, especially John 17?
He absolutely prayed in silence. There is no question on that. He told us how to pray to the Father ( only) . “Corporate prayer” falls on deaf ears unless you don’t believe Jesus. Do you believe Jesus? Give me a flat out PUBLIC prayer of Jesus . Just one. You can’t because there were zero. We have commercial churches with professional preachers that depict theater— not Christianity.
But I did give you one. Jesus’s prayer in John 17 was clearly done in front of His apostles and was a prayer for them.
Thank you so much for posting this metmom. It is very much needed in my life right now. My brother-law has had Multiple Sclerosis for 30 years and has been bedridden for the last 8 years. He can only blink his eyes, eat soft foods and whisper. This man has been a true hero through all of this. Recently he was put in hospice. His skin was beginning to die and his wife was told he had 2-3 weeks to live. All he wanted to do is come home to die, stand (with assistance of course) one more time (STAND- NOT WALK-just stand one more time) and have a malt. This is breaking my heart. Every one in this family needs prayer right now. God’s grace, power and peace. Please pray for him and my entire family
MARANATHA,
smvoice
I’m so sorry that you and your family have to endure this. What a broken world we live in.
I’ll keep you and him in prayer.
Subtle little dig on the integrity of Scripture there. Who made you such an expert on it and if you you have issues with it, then why are you quoting it?
So what's your contention here? That god DOESN'T hear and answer? Is that what you are trying to prove?
Just what exactly, do you think *persist* means? Repeating something twice? Or continually praying about something for long periods of time?
Actually, God did hear and answer. There was no other way, so to the cross it was.
In one of the teachings of Jesus, He speaks of a man who knocked on his neighbors door in the middle of the night. The neighbor told him to go away. But Jesus said that he would answer the door because of the man’s persistence. So yes, repetition and persistence over long periods of time. Both things are true. Knock and the door will open. Saint Monica is a good example. She prayed for 30 years for her son who became St Augustine. If you have a problem with the Rosary, we can discuss that too
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
And in Revelation 3:20, Jesus will knock on OUR door! (And for some of my loved ones, I hope that he will also persist, and keep on knocking!)
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