Prayer is one of the greatest acts of the Christian believer. Prayer is a conversation between the believer and God. Having a conversation with God is a big thing. Prayer puts us in the presence of God. Being in the presence of God is indescribable. We get to talk to God. And not only that but God is always available to you. Biblical prayer is an act of faith, an expression of dependence on God. Prayer is at the heart of what it means to believe. To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. When you pray you are telling God you need him and you can’t do it by yourself. If prayer doesn’t matter to you then God doesn’t matter to you.

  One of the best scriptures on prayer in found in Matthew 6:5-8. This begins the Lord’s prayer section in the sermon on the mount. We call this the lord prayer not because it was a prayer that Jesus himself prayed but because it was the prayer he provided for his followers. The Lord’s prayer is for disciples to pray. But before Jesus officially starts the Lords prayer. He gives and introduction Jesus is teaching us that the appropriate attitude is the be applied on any occasion someone prays. To put it another way we are to have the right motive for prayer, a person can pray for the wrong reasons. The lesson that Jesus want us know in this text is the wrong motive for prayer is to be seen by others and the right motive to for prayer is to be heard by God. When we pray we need to approach God correctly.  There is a right way to pray and there is a wrong way to pray.

1. Don’t Pray Like The hypocrites

The first right way to pray is don’t pray like the hypocrites. We see this lesson in verse 5 the first four words it says and when you pray notice it doesn’t say if you pray but it assumes that as followers of Jesus we have a prayer life. Jesus does not only want us to pray but he expects us to pray. He also expects us to pray a certain way. He says when you pray don’t be like the hypocrites. The word hypocrite during this time was used to describe an actor or someone who wore a mask, it can also be translated two-faced. Here he is also talking about what the pharisees were doing. A pharisee was a religious man who followed all the rules and who always went to church. The pharisees would stop on the corner of a busy street and begin to offer long impressive prayers and people would see and say “wow look at how holy they are”. They were doing it for show. They wanted people to see that they were praying. They wanted people to hear how good their prayers were. They wanted people see how religious they were. They wanted people to say they were holier than thou. They also would be in competition with one another, so it became “keeping up with the Joneses” prayer edition. We get a glimpse of the prayers of the pharisees in Luke 18:10-14. 

  • Pray With Sincerity 

Another lesson we learn is that we are to pray with Sincerity. These hypocrites prayers were not sincere these hypocrites wanted to seen by people not heard by God. They prayed for the glory of themselves not God. Jesus is not condemning the act of public prayer but the misuse of it. When praying in public focus on addressing God not looking good to other people. When prayer is motivated by self-admiration, self-confidence and selfishness it is wrong. Our prayers should not be self-serving. It was nothing wrong with where they prayed, most prayers was done in the synagogues or outside in the courtyard. You are supposes to pray in church and you can pray anywhere but their intent was wrong. Prayer is to be done unto God not unto people. Prayer is never about the one who is praying but the one who the prayer is offered to. This is where we mess up we concentrate on us and not on God. You can fool people you can be fake around people and hide who you really are but you can’t fool God. God sees right thru self-righteous acts. The end of verse 5 shows us that the people who pray only to be seen by people and praised by people they will get exactly what they want. It says truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. This type of prayer is rewarded by people they prayed for the glory of themselves not God and that’s all they will get. You should not pray to impress others and if you do that‘s all you will get, God will be unimpressed.

  • God Will Reward you  

The good news is when you pray with sincerity God will reward you. We see this lesson in verse 6. Verse 5 is when prayer is about you and verse 6 is about when prayer is about God. This verse tells us to go into our room close the door and pray. Jesus here is telling us that we need to pray in private. Spend sometime with just you and God. You need to have a private time with God. If you had to chance to meet your favorite celebrity you would do it but how many of us don’t take up the chance to meet with God. We take the time to watch tv, hang with friends, be on social media but do we make time for God. Praying alone helps to remove distraction that can hinder your prayer life. Prayer is a two way conversation just you and God you shouldn’t care what other people think or say. This type of prayer is rewarded by God. The end of verse 6 says pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. It says “pray to your father”  this teaches us that this is a personal relationship with God. He is available to us like a father to their child. A father son or daughter relationship is absolutely essential but not only that but it says  “your Father who sees in secret”  so we see here that God is our father but also this teaches us that even in the middle of praying in public or in private we must concentrate and focus our attention on God who is unseen. The good news here is that even though you can’t see God, God always sees you.