In the Word: Pray Like This

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals.  As we study God’s Word together, we encourage you to use the comments as a place to dialogue with us about what you are learning and share your answers to the questions below. We pray that you hearts will be encouraged as you dive in Scripture with us! 

“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.” Matthew 6:5-6

READ:

Jesus begins His teaching on prayer by warning His disciples against common pitfalls of prayer. The first warning we must heed is the exhortation to not pray as hypocrites do, drawing attention to ourselves in order to attract the praise of others.

Prayer isn’t meant to be an outward expression of our holiness. Rather, it is an inward acknowledgement of our utter dependence on God. When we convey our requests to God, we do so because we are confident that He is able to accomplish what we cannot. When we praise His hallowed name, we recognize that He alone is the source of our joy, hope, and peace. When our prayers are reduced to an attempt to appear righteous or spiritual in front of others, we’re missing out on one for the greatest blessings of prayer: communion with God.

This isn’t to say that we should avoid praying with others or that we should only pray in private where we can’t be overhead. Communal prayer is biblical; prayers for the sake of the performance are not. Therefore, we must examine the motivation of our hearts when we pray.

1. 1. Am I more concerned with sounding eloquent than with being sincere?
   2. Are my words directed vertically to the Lord or horizontally for those who can hear me?
   3. Is the heart of my prayers fueled by faith or by pride?

The second warning Jesus gives is caution against treating prayer like the recitation of an incantation:

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. Matthew 6:7-8

I found myself falling into this trap often after my first loss. As time wore on, I began to notice that my heart-felt prayers had slowly transformed into a mantra equivalent to a lucky rabbit’s foot. It was as though I believed that if I could concoct just the write combination of words and requests in my prayers, I could somehow control the outcome of my life. I was treating God like a genie, with prayer being my three wishes. I just needed to carefully curate those wishes to cover all my bases to ensure that nothing else would go wrong.

Dear sister, this shouldn’t be our approach to God in prayer. As much as we’d love to find a magic formula that would ward off sorrow and difficulty in our lives, prayer that consists of empty phrases piled together is prayer that is devoid of significance and meaning. This approach to prayer is focused not on the Giver, but on what we can get from Him. God is not waiting for us to find just the right phrase to grant us what we desire. He already knows what we need before we ever come to Him with our requests and petitions.

REFLECT:

1. How would you answer the three questions above? What has been the motivation of your heart when you pray?
2. In what ways are you tempted to treat God like a Genie waiting to grant you wishes instead of humbly coming before Him in prayer?