How Not To Pray

 ⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 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. (NIV)"

Yesterday we looked at the importance of our attitude toward giving. We should be giving in such a way that it is done in secret, we should  not make our giving into a broadway show. Jesus has more for us to learn, this time about prayer. Prayer is so important that I'm going to give it two days posts. Tonight, we'll discover how we should not be praying. On Wednesday, we'll discover how we should be praying. Let's see waht he teaches us.

He starts off telling us , "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. (NIV)" Jesus is teaching us not to pray like the hypocrites pray. Jesus teaches that the hypocrites love to pray standing in the churches and on the streetcorner. While there is nothing wrong with doing that, after all we should pray while in church, it is the attitude in which the hypocrite does it. The end of verse 5 is the key, "to be seen by others (NIV)." They liked receiving the praise and adoration of others when they did their religious acts. Do you pray just so people can see you praying. Do you think it makes you look like a better Christian if you pray well? Jesus says that they that pray to be seen by others is a hypocrite. Is that you?

Another thing Jesus condemns in prayer is found in verses 7-8, "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. (NIV)." Jesus teaches that when we pray, we shouldn't keep babbling on, we shouldn't keep on talking. We take our requests to God, we worship him in prayer, we thank him, and then we be quiet. Look at what he says, "do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.(NIV)" Do you think that God is hard of hearing or forgetful? He is not, and the amount of words we pray means nothing to God, what matters is our attitude. Do you pray so people are impressed with the quantity of words coming out of your mouth? Just because you say 1500 words per prayer doesn't mean that your prayer will be heard or answered. 

Our prayers should not be done to impress people, or to look good in front of others. Our prayers shouldn't be done for any other reason than communication with our Lord. Do you see your prayer life in the words that Jesus spoke in Matthew 6. Be honest, do your prayers look like those of the pagans that Jesus told us not to be like? Think about it.