On the one hand, you have the view which says that God is sovereign and so God’s going to do whatever He’s going to do whether you pray or don’t pray. In other words, when the light of the sun was sufficient to make a judgment on color, you were to pray this prayer. And the implication is that you’ve got to spend the first few minutes just getting God’s attention. The other is sin, of course, but there you do not see it at its acme. And Jesus is saying to the Pharisees you may be praying, but your prayers have fallen to Satan’s temptation. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Faithful Families for Advent and Christmas, What I’ve Been Reading — Spring 2013 Edition, First, and most importantly, I think there are valid points to be made on each side of this issue. And now He says, the second fault to avoid is system-centered prayer. The most private place where you wouldn’t want to bring anyone for fear they might take something or know what you possess. In conclusion, what is God asking us? They have a prayer rug, a prayer mat. And all of us know well how that can happen. Do you remember that word from your English classes? In – in 2 Chronicles 6, you have a beautiful public prayer. Like, “Now, I lay me down to sleep,” and all of those little things we teach our children and the formula that we pray before every meal and the little bones we toss at God in the name of prayer here and there that are rather meaningless. 21 October 2020. Trying to intimidate him into doing something. You could pray anywhere you wanted. And apart from those times, you just didn’t do it, so that it was not a way of life. I’ll bet the people enjoyed that.” And that – that’s sad, you know that? They fell into one of the final two. You want to know that? In these cases, I think prayer is an especially good response. Now let me just give you an idea. Guest. Do you understand now what he means? He was talking honestly to God. We can all fall into the pattern of treating prayer as something to which we are indifferent just as we can be hypocritical. There is nothing wrong with public prayer, nothing at all. I mean it didn’t matter what it was, they wrote a prayer for it and when that thing happened, you prayed that prayer. And we’ve maintained some of those same concepts. But the question is why did they love to pray? We evangelicals, we fundamentalists, if you will, who don’t like those kinds of liturgical things have our own little rituals too. It isn’t forcing God to do something. Why do they love to pray? I like the thoughtfulness of your essay above. This article is also available and sold as a booklet. One evening after a particularly strenuous day the two of them returned to the boarding house exhausted and prepared for bed. They were hypocritical in their fasting, which was dealing with self, and they were hypocritical in their praying which was toward God. When it is the mindless repetition of pseudo-spiritual incantations it is meaningless. Pope Francis during the weekly General Audience Secondly, a humble heart, seeking only the attention of God, not men. If you are to be rewarded from God, then you are lost in the secrecy of a communion with God. About two hours later, Whitfield woke up and there was Wesley still on his knees beside the bed, sound asleep. May we just be people of prayer, content that you who see in secret know our hearts. He is speaking on the side of a hill in the land of Israel to Jewish people. So what is prayer then? God knows whether my prayer is for the audience around me or whether it’s for Him. It’s easy to confuse verbosity with holiness, fluency with devotion. When it is the honest cry of a burdened heart, it is legitimate. Let’s bow together. I’ll never forget one day walking down the hall of our home in La Mirada, And Matthew, who was just little then, just a little fellow, five, six years old, five years old I guess, was lying on our bed in there all alone. So when the hour of prayer came, they put on a demonstration for everybody to see. Even their self is intruding itself and the temptation is for him to think about himself. Prayer was a routine thing for you. It isn’t getting things. There was something in his heart that he wanted to say to God, so he went back in a room all alone and said it. And the rabbis used to say whenever a prayer is long, that prayer is heard. Verses 5 and 6, they were praying self-centered prayers; self-centered prayers. That’s not the issue. Look at verse 5. Register. Listen. And certainly, before the third hour which would be 9:00 a.m. Then in the evening, again you were to pray it before you couldn’t tell blue from white and blue from green and certainly before 9:00 p.m. You know, D. L. Moody once said that he got so many blessings from God that one day he prayed a very short prayer. And He doesn’t just say in the streets. Some of you may have been familiar with prayer books, missiles and things like that that you were involved in. It was very much a course – a matter of course in Jewish life. Ours cannot get to you either unless we know and love the Son who is the high priest, who is our access, who gives us boldness to come before the throne of grace in time of need. Amen. Pope Francis tells the faithful during his weekly General Audience that prayer with God is a silent dialogue with love at its core, where there is no pretence. Do you ever pray a prayer and while you’re praying in some group, you’re saying in your mind, “Boy, I bet they thought that was a good phrase? This thread is archived. And I think prayer is probably illustrated as well in terms of breathing as any illustration I know of. national tragedies, are beyond our capacity to significantly impact. Which also, by the way, had an abbreviated version if you were in a hurry. “We tend to think of sin as we see it in rags and in the gutters of life. I’ve heard people say oh pray it through brother, pray it through. This is not uncommon in our day. It isn’t self-centered prayer, it is system-centered prayer. They had prayers for everything. That’s basically it. Share This. Dr. L. D. Maxwell, who was commenting on 18th Century worship in Scotland said, quote, “The efficacy of prayer was measured by its ardor and its fluency and mostly by its length.” End quote. And we talked about the word “see,” didn’t we, back in the last message we gave you? They had to do it in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening, say the Shemoneh Esrei. And He says at the end of verse 5, “they have their reward.” What do you mean they have their reward? And I’ve even seen among those with whom I, myself, fellowship – and perhaps I’ve been guilty of mumbling mindless words before meals or before bed or in the morning or for some routine prayer to open a meeting or whatever. I trust that God will speak to all of us in regard to the lessons of prayer that Jesus teaches in this passage. Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource. Prayer is not so sacred that Satan doesn’t invade it. Number one, their prayer became ritualized. Now He uses the word for “wide: streets, all right? We’ve been looking at the sixth chapter. Isn’t that right? The second half of the prayer then moves from “your” to “our”: “give us our daily bread; forgive us our trespasses”. On the other hand, there are some people who pray in secret, says Chrysostom, but they pray so loud that everybody down the hall hears them praying in secret. Blessed art thou among women. May we Lord not even fall into that – that easy trap of muttering, meaningless words when we have an audience with a majestic king of the universe. “When you pray, use not vain repetition.” By the way, the word is battalogeō. It’s communion. best. We find in Daniel 6:10 that Daniel opened his window and knelt and prayed; lying prostrate, totally out on the ground. They had prayer when you left the city. no comments yet. Pray in secret. Now that’s a hint of something. Amen.” After that prayer, Whitfield rose from his knees and got into bed. And I heard him saying, “Dear Jesus, please come into my heart.”. Sometimes I’ll be praying in the morning service and I’ll say a phrase and, all of a sudden, I’ll just be talking to the Lord, you know. It has no biblical base at all. “Pray in secret where it’s just between you and God,” Jesus said. In Acts chapter 4, the church met together for prayers. They take that prayer, stick it in the cracks of the wailing wall. It’s the purity of it. Enter your email address and we will send you instructions on how to reset your password. In fact, if you’ll remember back in the encounter between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, he really gave them a bad time. “The greatest danger to religion is that the old self becomes religious.” It can be the phony that masks the evil heart. And He who is in secret and who sees the secret of your heart, binds Himself together with you. And it’s a business word meaning a closed transaction that is receipted. For those who are Christians, Lord, like the disciples gathered first at Jesus’ feet, may we hear the message best of all. “Don’t pray as the hypocrites,” the actors on the stage. He stressed that “Jesus doesn't want hypocrisy. So every dimension of their spiritual experience involved hypocrisy. For the Lord said, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy.” Hypocrisy can find its way even into the life of one who is truly a child of the king. It didn’t matter that there was an audience, because he wasn’t talking to the audience. Do Your work in their hearts. Thirdly, a confident heart, knowing full well that God already knows all that you need and with childlike simplicity, in faith you simply take your heart to Him and await the majestic display of His glorious response. Instead of fighting back and arguing, perhaps the right response would be to close the door and pray pour out our hearts in prayer for Oklahoma. Look at verse 5. They had a prayer when you got new furniture. The lesson here, people, is don’t think that because you have gone to the place of prayer, you have avoided the enemy. And as long as it stays in the crack, it’s being offered to God as if God needed information, as if God had to badgered into responding. When the 2nd amendment trumps the right of innocent people to simply live their lives, it’s time for serious thought, prayers (if that’s your thing), and action – action that leads to tangible change. Do you hear? He says in the what? Please respond to confirm your registration. The other says, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and just rattles it off, meaningless words. Some of you come from backgrounds where your prayers were ritualistic, where you were part of sequential liturgy where at the right time and the right moment you said the right kind of prayer. Twitter; Facebook; LinkedIn; Email; Nothing makes Leftist heads explode like Christian leaders who venture an opinion outside the four walls of the church. And then the call to prayer came out of the minaret right when he was going to stab his enemy. So you have both extremes. Now any time you get into any discussion of prayer, you get into a certain area of difficulty. 1:44 PM. There’s no sacred ground for Satan. And it’s very difficult sometimes to deal with what is the truth. You might as well know it. They turned their minds off and just rattled it out. They got their reward. Self-centered prayer, and they are rewarded in full with human applause. He invades it all. To have a real picture and a true understanding of sin, you must look at some great saint, some unusually devout and devoted man. Verily I say unto you they have their reward.”. Have an awesome week everybody! In fact, it was used of the place where you kept your treasures.
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