Title: Great Rules of Prayer
Text: Matthew 6:7-8
A little boy was saying his bedtime prayers with his mother:
"Lord, bless Mommy and Daddy, and God, GIVE ME A NEW BICYCLE!!!"
Mom: "God’s not deaf, son.
Boy: "I know, Mom, but Grandma’s in the next room, and she’s hard of hearing!
A young man goes into a drug store to buy 3 boxes of chocolate. The pharmacist says what size? Small, medium, or large? "Well," he said, "I’ve been seeing this girl for a while and she’s really Beautiful. I want the chocolate because I think tonight’s "the" night. We’re having dinner with her parents, and then we’re going out. If she lets me hold her hand I’m going to give her the small box, if she let’s me kiss her on the cheek I’m going to giver her the medium box, and if she lets me kiss her on the lips I’m going to give her the big box.
The young man makes his purchase and leaves. Later that evening, he sits down to dinner with his girlfriend and her parents. He asks if he might give the blessing, and they agree. He begins the prayer, but continues praying for several minutes. The girl leans over and says, "You never told me that you were such a religious person." He leans over to her and says, "You never told me that your father is the pharmacist."
We have come to our second week looking at the Sermon on the Mount. Well, at least the section about prayer. Here Jesus is teaching his followers, his disciples, about various subjects. In Matthew chapter six He teaches about prayer. Would you turn there with me this morning? Matthew 6:5-18 this morning.
Often you have probably heard religious people standing behind pulpits delivering flowery and quite lengthy prayers. I have to admit sometimes I have found myself in this rut, although it was not my intention but nonetheless, I have heard myself repeating the same things over and over.
Too often people measure a prayer’s effectiveness by its fluency and length, thinking that a long prayer means the person is very devoted to God. Ecclesiastes 5:2 says, “Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.”
With that said, Christ puts the matter very simply for us this morning, He says “When you pray”, follow these three rules:
1. Rule 1: do not use empty repetition
2. Rule 2: do not speak much
3. Rule 3: trust God.
The first great rule of prayer is striking to us sometimes – do not use empty repetition. Meaningless repetition means that we are saying the same things over and over again without putting one’s heart and thought into what is being said.
It also means we might be using certain “religious” words or phrases (sometimes over and over) and thinking God is hearing us because we are using such religious talk.
Jesus says, “Don’t do this.” I imagine Jesus with His fingers in His ears, going “La la la la la, I don’t hear you.”, when we pray like this. So what leads to repetitious or babbling prayer?
The first thing is memorized prayer: Just saying the words of a form prayer, for example, the Lord’s prayer. Before you freak out on me and think I am speaking blasphemy against the Lord’s Prayer, let me add… there is nothing wrong with a memorized prayer, if it is prayed with heart and not just repeated with no thought behind the words.
Another type of repetitious, meaningless prayer is when people pray well written, well-worded prayers, say from a magazine or devotional or something like that. Who are we kidding? Do we think that the already prepared prayer is so well written and expressive that it surely would carry more weight with God? The words may sound descriptive and beautifully arranged, but they heart must be offering the prayer, not the mind and the ego.
How about ritual prayer, ritual prayer is saying the same prayer at the same time on the same occasion – over and over again.
Let me add a word of warning at this point, not all repetitions in prayer are bad. Jesus repeated Himself in prayer, Matthew 26:44, “So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.”
Daniel repeated himself in prayer, Daniel 9:18-19, “Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name."
And so did the Psalmist in Psalm 136, “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever. to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever….” And so one, there are 26 verses in that psalm, every one of them repeats, His loves endures forever.”
So what’s the difference? I want you to note there is something of extreme importance in discussing “babbling” repetition. Jesus does not say repetition is wrong. It, in itself, is not wrong. What is wrong is vain, empty, meaningless, foolish repetition.
Just as there are several types of repetitive prayers there are several things that will keep us from falling into the empty repetitive prayer rut: We need to pray with:
1. A genuine heart: really knowing God personally and having a moment-by-moment fellowship with Him all day long.
2. Thought and concentration: really focusing upon what we are saying.
3. A desire for fellowship and communication with God: praying sincerely, and really meaning it.
4. Preparation: Preparing ourselves for prayer by first meditating on God’s Word.
That last step is the one sure way to prepare your heart for your private prayer time, meditate first on the Word of God.
2 Timothy 3:16 – “All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness”
It is in the scripture that the believer learns about God, himself, and the world around him – the world and the truth of all things. It is the Spirit of God who takes the Word of God and moves it upon our hearts revealing what we should be praying. This way, we are stirred to pray whatever the Word of God and the Spirit of God has shown us.
Rom 8:26 – “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”
2 Corinthians 2:12-13 – “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.”
The reason I think Jesus made such a big deal about repetitive prayers is because they are so tragic for the believer. Prayer should be one of the most meaningful experiences in life. God is certainly willing to meet the believer in a very special way – anytime, anyplace. But the prayer must be from the heart and not just from the mind!
The second great lesson about prayer is an eye-opener – don’t do all the speaking! Too many people think that length equals devotion; that is, the longer they pray the more God will listen to them, or the more spiritual they will become.
God does not hear a person’s prayer just because it is long, but because his heart is genuinely poured out to God. Length has nothing to do with devotion, only a sincere heart.
Again, long prayers are not forbidden. What is forbidden is the idea that long prayers are automatically heard by God.
There are many examples of long prayers in the Bible, Jesus prayed all night, Luke 6:12. The early disciples fasted and prayed, and sought God for ten days and nights waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1 and following). A believer should sense the needs of the community around them so much that he is driven to seek God and His intervention for long periods of time, and he should seek Him often.
Just like there were many reasons people babble in praying there are some reasons they pray too long.
1. Some feel long prayers convince God. They feel God has to be moved, nudged, or stirred into action.
2. Some feel they need long prayers to explain the situation. As if God needs to be informed of a particular situation and how it has affected us.
3. Some feel long prayers make them more spiritual, more mature, and more devoted to God.
4. Some feel long prayers are expected by God.
5. Some people think they secure God’s blessing with a long prayer.
6. And some feel long prayers impress people. We talked about how Jesus feels about the prideful prayer last week.
So how can we avoid the sins created by a long unthoughtful prayer?
Well, first listen to this verse from Ecclesiastes 5:2, “Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.”
Do not be quick with our mouth. Ouch. We are told to control our mouth! We should never let our mouth rattle on and on without thought. It is OK to pause and regroup when you are praying; You do not have to pray about everything that crosses your mind.
“Do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.” The biggest part of prayer should be us sitting still, being quiet, not saying a word for a while. We do not have to rush to speak anything.
We need to think about who God is. Meditate on His greatness.
And let our words be few. God ahead: Speak – but make your words deliberate, like your interviewing your Sovereign God. Go ahead: request – just as any child would request of his father. But approach God with respect and thought, with care and in love.
Prayer is a matter of the heart, not a matter of words and length. Praying is sharing; it is sharing with God just like a person shares with any other person. Just like we can share out thoughts, and feelings, our praise, and petitions to other people, we should be able to do the same with God.
Prayer is also a personal relationship. Prayer is not speaking into thin air. God may be unseen, as it said in verse 6. He may be invisible, but he is always there. And He is even more here than any other person in this room this morning.
He is the one whom all men are called to know! He is the one through whom we are all related and part of the body of Christ. He is the one who came to earth, born into mortal flesh, lived, taught, and healed. He is the one who paid the price for all of our sins, and He is the one who wants to spend some quality time with you! You can do that, it is through prayer.
And lastly, the third great rule for prayer is forceful – trust God.
A grandfather overheard his granddaughter repeating the alphabet in reverent, hushed tones.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"I’m praying, Grandpa," she said. "I can’t think of the right words, so I just say all the letters. God will put them together for me, ’cause he knows what I’m thinking."
If God knows the believer’s need even before the believer asks, then why should the believer pray?
Prayer demonstrates our need for God and our dependence upon God. Prayer gives us time for concentrated sharing and communion with God.
It is not enough for a man to have head knowledge of God, he needs to have times when he is in the presence of God and can concentrate his thought and fellowship on God.
He needs time with God as much as he needs time with his family and friends. Man was created to be a social creature. That means we need to have fellowship with people as well as with God.
The believer, therefore, does not pray only to have his needs met but to share and fellowship and to enrich his life with God.
The believer’s concern should be living in the presence of God, taking enough time to share and to fellowship with God. The more he shares and fellowships with God, the more he will know God and learn to trust and to depend upon God’s care and promises.
God is out father, He is our Adoni, our Dad, our daddy. Do you know what that means? It means we are His children.
That means the believer can rest in God and his promises. He does not have to strain for the words or pray long in order for the Father to hear him. His Father already knows and cares.
And the Father wants to hear from His children. God has ordained prayer as the medium through which He blesses and moves among men.
Paul Harvey told about a 3-year-old boy who went to the grocery store with his mother. Before they entered the grocery store she said to him, "Now you’re not going to get any chocolate chip cookies, so don’t even ask."
She put him up in the cart & he sat in the little child’s seat while she wheeled down the aisles. He was doing just fine until they came to the cookie section. He saw the chocolate chip cookies & he stood up in the seat & said, “Mom, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you not even to ask. You’re not going to get any at all.” So he sat back down.
They continued down the aisles, but in their search for certain items they ended up back in the cookie aisle. “Mom, can I please have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you that you can’t have any. Now sit down & be quiet.”
Finally, they were approaching the checkout lane. The little boy sensed that this may be his last chance. So just before they got to the line, he stood up on the seat of the cart & shouted in his loudest voice, “In the name of Jesus, may I have some chocolate chip cookies?” And everybody around just laughed. Some even applauded. And, according to Paul Harvey, due to the generosity of the other shoppers, the little boy & his mother left with 23 boxes of chocolate chip cookies.
Folks, Gods listening, and He is willing to give out more than boxes of cookies. He wants to hear from you. Are you taking the time to talk to Him?
