Guidelines for Effective Prayer (Part 1)
Matthew 6:5-8
May 8, 2005
Introduction
Today’s message is a bit reflective of me: short.
And it’s not because I’m not prepared, but because the verses we’re looking at today, are kind of a transition between what we discussed last week and what we’re going to be looking at next week, and possibly the next, as we continue our walk through the gospel according to Matthew.
You know, prayer is one part of the Christian life that I think we can all use some more help in.
I don’t think we can learn enough about it, and I don’t think we can do it enough. But we need to be careful that we don’t spend so much time studying prayer that we never get around to actually doing it.
It’s sort of like studying the Bible but never taking the time to actually let it make a difference in how you live.
So today we’re beginning a series that I hope will not only be informative, but also practical. My hope is that each week we look at this issue of prayer, you’ll find something you can take home and use right away.
These 4 verses we’re looking at today precede Jesus’ teaching about the Lord’s prayer, or the "model" prayer as I prefer to call it, and kind of transitions between his words about giving and doing acts of righteousness and that teaching about prayer.
So follow along as I read these verses, from Matthew 5:5-8 -
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."
As with last week’s passage about doing acts of righteousness and giving to the needy, we find Jesus addressing prayer for the sake of getting noticed and gaining approval of men. In other words, doing good things simply to gain a "spiritual reputation."
Last week we looked at the fact that good things can be done for the wrong reasons, and Jesus picks up that theme in these verses.
And in these four verses, Jesus not only lays the groundwork for what’s coming up right after them, but in doing so, gives us some tools we can use.
So let’s begin looking at three guidelines for effective prayer, okay? Here we go. The first guideline we’re going to look at to day is to...
Avoid praying for "looks."
Jesus says in verse 5 that the hypocrites...
"They love...to be seen by men."
This hearkens back to our message last week. Jesus said that we should not go our giving and other acts of righteousness for the purpose of giving a good, spiritual impression.
Obviously, giving to the needy is a good thing. And no one would deny that praying is a good thing.
But if do like some Christians, who want to make sure that most people possible are watching, you’ve got a problem.
Praying to be seen is evidence of pride, and Jesus says that’s a sign of the hypocrite, who’s more worried about appearances than about pleasing God.
The issue is not that you should never pray in public, but rather that you don’t pray to look good in front of others.
Make sense? Good. Let’s move on. The second guideline for effective prayer that I want to cover today is to make sure you...
Don’t measure the prayer by the words.
In verse 7, Jesus says...
"...do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words."
I want to discuss a couple types of babbling:
1. Repeating the same words over and over.
I mentioned last week that I grew up in the Catholic church. And in the Catholic church there’s a rather large emphasis on the repetition of certain prayers, particularly the Lord’s prayer, and what we called, the "Hail Mary," which is a prayer to Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Aside from the unbiblical teaching that we should pray to anybody but God himself, the issue becomes that both of these prayers, the Lord’s prayer and the Hail Mary, have become just avenues of mindless repetition with little or no thought or heart for the majority of Catholics, at least those I know.
Another example is when someone keeps using even good words like, "God," "Father," and even, "Jesus," in a prayer, and it seems like it’s every other word.
And I’m not opposed to that, if that’s just how they pray, and it’s kind of a habit. It becomes a problem when we think that the repetition gains us a hearing with God.
A young boy was observed by a minister in church praying very fervently; but much to the preacher’s surprise, he was also heard to say from time to time: "Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo." So preacher approached the boy after he had apparently finished his prayer and said, "Son, I was very pleased to see you praying so devoutly, but tell me, why did you keep saying ’Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo?"
The boy replied, "Well, you see sir, I just finished taking my geography test in school, and I have been praying for the Lord to make Tokyo the Capital of France." (SermonCentral.com - Contributed by: Jeff Strite)
So whether, it’s Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, or Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo, repetition of words won’t get the job done.
A second way that people babble is in...
2. Using "spiritual-sounding" prayers.
Doing some of the repetitious stuff I just mentioned falls into this category.
We think that if we mention Jesus, the Father, God, the Spirit, or whatever, it’ll come across as "spiritual - sounding."
Another way we do this is by making sure we always use the "right" words in our prayers.
An example of this is when we finish every prayer saying, "In Jesus’ name, amen."
There are some who that feel that unless you say those specific words, then your prayer is useless, and won’t be answered.
They bring up the Scripture in John 14 where Jesus says to ask for anything in his name, and it will be given to him.
Well, Jesus wasn’t saying, "use these words, and the Father is obligated to give you whatever you ask for."
Because the fact of the matter is that sometimes we ask for the wrong things, and God only says yes to our prayers when they are in our best interests and for his glory.
Jesus is saying that we can come to the Father on the merit of Jesus, since we have none of our own.
And then there are the prayers that I call, "King James" prayers.
Nothing against the King James version of the Bible, but I think you know what I’m saying.
The prayers are filled not just with the "thee’s" and "thou’s." They are just lavish in their wording.
And I’m not opposed to that, either, as long as it’s from the heart. The problem comes when such prayers are offered to impress people. They might impress people, but they don’t impress God.
By the way, it’s also possible to go to the other extreme, in trying to impress people with the "simplicity" of your prayers, as if to say, "I don’t need that fancy-schmancy type of praying. I’m much too humble for that..." So you avoid the jargon to show that you’re above all that, and people can go, "Wow, you’re so, like, unreligious in your praying."
The bottom line is that the words you use and the way you use them should reflect a desire to please the Father, not to impress people.
So what kind of prayer pleases the Father? Well, tune in again next week, as we look to answer that to some degree.
But if we got into it too much today, I wouldn’t be able to keep my promise to get you out early today.
But here’s the bottom line: brooks should babble, not people.
The third guideline I want to discuss today regarding how to have effective prayer is to...
Trust that the Father knows your needs.
In verse 8, we find Jesus closing this transitory section with these words:
"...for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."
Jesus is obviously saying that the Father is aware of our needs and prayers.
This echoes the words of Psalm 139:4 -
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
God knows what you’re praying even before you ask him.
So what’s the use? Why bother asking? Is Jesus just saying that we should quit praying?
Not at all! As we’ll look at next week, Jesus expects us to pray, and gives us some more guidance on how to pray effectively.
But why pray if the Father already knows?
I don’t know if I can give you all the answers, but let me give you a couple ideas as to why I think we should pray, even though the Father knows.
1. It helps us think through our requests to see if they are really in our best interests.
What I mean is that sometimes we think we know what we want, but once we formulate the request or it comes out of our mouths, it sounds different than we were intending. Have you ever had that experience?
Maybe not. I’ve had that experience. I’ll be praying about something, then actually got to praying about it and going, "Wow, I don’t really think that’s what I meant. I need to think through that some more."
So I think formulating and verbalizing our prayers helps our thought processes.
Another reason to pray, and to me, much more important, is that...
2. Praying is an exercise of faith.
When we’re praying, at the bottom of everything we’re saying, is this: "I trust you. I know you hear, and I know you know. And I know that no matter what, you care."
Verbalizing our prayers, whether praying out loud, or just through our minds is an act of faith.
Here’s something that I think will help with a lot of how many Christians can get out of what is a shallow faith - pray more.
Really. Bring God into your life more often, making conversation with him a habit as you go through the day.
And as that conversation habit develops, so does your relationship. And as the relationship develops and deepens, so does your faith.
So pray, even though the Father’s already on top of it.
Conclusion
Let’s review. The first three guidelines for effective prayer are:
* Avoid praying for "looks."
* Don’t measure the prayer by the words.
* Trust that the Father knows your needs.
And all three of these guidelines are setting the table for what Jesus has for us as we look at what is easily the most well-known prayer in the Bible.
But don’t wait until next week to start putting this stuff into practice. This is stuff that you can use today, no matter what you’re praying about.
I think that if we can be consistent in using these guidelines, as well as what we’re going to be learning over the next couple weeks or so, then our prayer lives will be more dynamic and fruitful.
So use this week to do some evaluating and tweaking of your prayer life. Ask the Father to show you where you might be praying just to look good in front of others, or if you’re babbling. And ask him to give you the faith to trust that the Father will take care of you.
And come back next week anticipating to learn even more about how we can be effective in prayer.
Let’s pray.
