Matthew 6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are -
Hypocrite -
1. One who pretends to be what he is not; one who has the form of godliness without the power, or who assumes an appearance of piety and virtue, when he is barren of true religion.
And the hypocrite's hope shall perish. Job 8:13.
2. A phony, one who assumes a false appearance, seek to cheat. Vanity.
The Greek word is, play actors.
Jesus does not tell us who these hypocrites were, but not to be like them. Their real objective was, to be observed of men, to attract attention.
For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, They have their reward.-
The synagogues and the street corners are their stage.
This is where they would get the most attention. People can be fooled, but there is no fooling God. He knows our heart.
It's not that God wants us to always pray in secret, but there has to be that one on one relationship.
He wants us to humble ourselves before Him and only Him. He wants us to come to His stage, to get His attention, to get His praise, not the world.
We have the same problem in Church today, as you can watch T.V. and/or the computer and see all the showboats we have in the Church. It is mostly people in the flesh.
People seem to be happy working in the flesh instead of the Spirit. It's heart breaking to see Gods people doing all these things in the flesh and have removed the Spirit of God. To be rewarded in the flesh is very short lived and to be rewarded in the Spirit is eternal.
Matthew 21:13
And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
When we become born again, Jesus comes and makes his home within you. Make Your Body a House of Prayer...
Matthew 6:6
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee open.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet -
Closet - Secret chamber, Storehouse, Generally used for storage or privacy, A spot for retirement.There should be some place where we may approach Him in secret.
Where we may be alone with God, someplace which we may be where no ear will hear, But His Ear, and no eye can see, But His Eye.
The love of prayer and a desire for a better relationship with our God, will create a place for us to meet Him.
Our Saviour probably had a great amount of difficulty to find a place for private prayer with the father, but he always did find it.
To be alone, Jesus would rise up before daybreak, and go into a solitary place and prayed. For him it would be, a grove, a mountain, a garden, anywhere for a traveler among all the followers He had. Mark 1:35
What excuse can we have for not praying who have a home.
We would rather spend a couple of so called precious minutes of the morning sleeping, or watch more T.V. We just have too many distractions these days.
Who will practice self-denial so they may be alone with our God?
He intends to leave it up to us to show our commitment to Him.
Time is running out, everyday you are getting closer to meeting Him face to face.
and when thou hast shut thy door -
To shut the door is to remove all distractions before they happen.
We must prepare ourselves to have our time with the creator of the universe. This means to remove anything that would break the flow of the Spirit of God from moving within your heart.
The ruler of this world does not want us to be praying for people nor does he want us to be praying for ourselves. He will be doing whatever he can to get us off track, So Don't Let Him.
pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. -
God knows our desires, and He wants to give to our desires. It's not the wording of prayer, it's the prayer from the heart that will be answered. To be in the will of God is to seek Him in your prayer life.
Matthew 16:19
The keys to the kingdom is the revelation through the Word of God. We have to ask, seek and knock and God will give you this Light.
Matthew 7:7
* You reach out to God in your secret place to make your request known. (Ask)
* Then you go out into the world and you will have extra faith, because you and God have already talk about it. (seek).
* When it comes time to make the move on this, you will have the confidences to act on it. (Knock)
Jeremiah 10:21 Only a Handful of Pastors Today Truly Seek God in Prayer!
The scene Jeremiah describes what we are seeing today in the Church of God. Many Pastors seem to have become neglectful in the areas of prayer and revelation in the Word They are leaning on their flesh, turning to books and commentaries for their sermons instead of seeking to know God's heart through prayer. They have lost all power of the Spirit to feed and keep the sheep in order and the sheep are being scattered.
Matthew 6:7
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Ecclesiastes 5:2
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.
Vain Repetitions - The act of doing or uttering a second time. The act of reciting or rehearsing. The act of reading over and over. Recite from memory.
Prayers through "much speaking" and "vain repetitions" could be viewed as heartless and fleshly.
Heathen - A pagan, a Gentile, one who worships idols, or is unacquainted with the true God. In the Scriptures, the word seems to comprehend all nations except the Jews or Israelites, as they were all strangers to the true religion at that time, and all addicted to idolatry.
John 4:24
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
These types of prayers that use repetitive words mostly come from the flesh. These type of prayers will never reach the Throne of God. God is Spirit and we have to pray from our heart for our prayers to reach God.
Sometimes when praying from your heart, you will repeat things. That is without a doubt more then fine, because it comes from your heart.
For God does know our heart.
Jeremiah 17:10
I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Galatians 6:8
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
God, the Fountain of all wisdom, who knows our necessities before we ask.
Paul Said: “We know not what we should pray for as we ought” (Rom. 8:26). but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. This is Pure Love when the Spirit groans within you.
Some may ask: But why then, asked and/or pray at all?
Why should we make our requests known unto God?
Philippians 4:6
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
When we humble ourselves before the Creator and ask Him for our needs, we should be reaching out to our Father in Heaven. Your Heart needs to open up and move towards God and let the Spirit of God move through you as you Ask, Seek and knock.
Matthew 7:7
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
Matthew 21:22
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
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