Prayer

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."
- Jesus (Matthew 6:5-8)

God wants us to pray! That is an important thing to understand before we proceed. He wants you to talk to Him! To Him! Jesus said, "And when you pray"; not "if you pray". He has the full expectation that His disciples will pray. That being said (that His people will be a praying people), He gives very specific direction about our prayer lives; direction that we must understand and practice if we are to be pleasing to Him.

Jesus uses a term here that He will repeat over and over throughout the remainder of the Sermon. Hypocrite. The word translated hypocrite is "hupokrites". This was a theatrical term that meant a play actor. Someone who pretended to be someone else on stage. Jesus uses this term to describe those that were doing the right things for all the wrong reasons or someone that says do as I say, not as I do. (check out Matthew 23:2,3) So, that is His direction, pray, but not like the hypocrites.

He gives us a clear picture of what He means... "they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others." Their prayers were all about themselves. Their posture, their words, their location was all about being seen by others. They wanted the attention and the praise as being holy people. Jesus tells us not to be like them. I am sure that caused a ruckus as He is specifically dealing with the Jewish leaders of His day. Their regularly scheduled prayers had become a time for them to demonstrate their religiousness. They would stand with their hands raised (1 Kings 8:22; Psalm 28:2; Luke 18:11-13) and lift their voices loudly to be heard by others. (I am not saying it is wrong to lift your hands when you pray, that seems to be a practice of God's people, both Old and New Testament, 1 Timothy 2:8)

Jesus is telling us that the problem comes when it is all a show. The way we stand, the way we speak, the words we say... if it is our intention to bring honor to ourselves, we are hypocrites. Pure and simple. He calls on His people to pray with the pure purpose of talking to their Father in Heaven. Our hearts are to be oriented towards Him. Our words are directed to Him. Our focus is on Him. He is not dealing with public prayer in our assemblies here, not specifically, but we can learn about that also. When we lead a public prayer, it should not be with different words than we use in our daily speech. There is no "holy language"; all of our speech is to "seasoned with salt" (Col 4:6). We are not to use repetition of words... "guide, guard and direct us".  We are to speak from our hearts! God already knows what we need and what we are thinking, so just say it.

Jesus is calling on us to engage our hearts when we talk to God. Genuine words always mean more to the hearer and that is also true of our Father. Just say what you mean. Give Him honor and glory in your prayers. He tells us that there is a reward for that kind of prayer. I don't know what that reward is, but I know that if it comes from Him... I want it! Take a moment and pray... right now. Talk to your Father like a father wants to be talked to by His children. That will honor Him and He will honor you.

Wise or foolish?