Hey All,
Following up on last weeks discussion I got to thinking about People of God who truly lived in an “active” relationship with God. So lets look at a few:
Abraham …….God asked him to leave the land which he lived and he would show him and make him a great nation. Gen 12:1-3
Noah……… God instructed Noah to build the Ark. Gen 6:8-22 Noah followed even though the world around him mocked him.
Joseph……… listened and followed Gods prompting till ultimately he became second to Pharaoh protecting the Israelites. Genesis chapters 37-47
Moses……….followed God’s prompting from the burning bush on the mountain top to confronting Pharaoh and leading Israel out of Egypt. Exodus chapters 3-14
Nehemiah….. followed God’s prompting to rebuild the walls in Jerusalem. Neh:1-14
The Disciples ………..followed Jesus’ invitation and ultimately the Holy Spirit after His death and resurrection.
These are just a few and I am sure that y’all can think of additional people in the bible who actively had a relationship with God that they trusted and followed His direction even without all the answers.
The disciples seeing Jesus pray asked ……”Lord teach us to pray” …….and Jesus responded with the Lords prayer in Luke 11:1-13. While I want us to look at the Lords Prayer in depth, we are going to save that for a later time and focus on Mat 6: 6-8. Jesus instructs the disciples in two areas: to go into their “inner room” and pray but also not to pray in “meaningless repetition”
So does going to pray in your “inner room” mean we cannot pray anywhere in public, in the car, at school at work? NO!
I think it does tie to having a strong relationship with God the Father that we have a quiet time in our day that we can focus on the Father and His will for our lives. Jesus modeled this many times for the disciples which meant it had to have some importance in his life and ours. Mark 1:35 tells us that Jesus got up before dawn, left the place he was staying and went to a secluded place to pray. Similarly in Mat 14:23, Jesus went up to the mountain alone after preaching and healing all day to be alone to pray. These are just two examples but there are many more to support that Jesus spent time with the Father alone and secluded in prayer.
In verse 7 when Jesus says that we should not use “meaningless repetition”, does it mean we should not ask for something more that once? NO!
Many of us that grew up in the church have memorized prayers and there is nothing inherently wrong with praying prayers that we have committed to memory. As PJ reminded us when we looked at the Lord’s Prayer, we have to guard against just reciting the words or truly praying a prayer from our heart. I love the fact that when we now pray the Lord’s prayer in worship that we take time to think about each section as we pray to the Father. In Jesus’ time many of the church leaders recited prayers so that everyone would see them, hear them and make them believe that they were Holy based on the elaborate words used.
With respect to asking for things more than once being repetitious, I don’t believe Jesus was referring to that definition either in verse 7 because again he modeled differently in his own life. When we fast forward to the Garden of Gethsemane in Mat 26:39-44 Jesus asks the Father three (3) times to “take away the cup” of going to the cross for our sins. Was Jesus repetitious? Yes and he was also praying from deep within His heart.
So to wrap it up
- When we pray are we simply fulfilling a routine trying to get through the words or are we praying from the heart?
- When we pray are we hoping to convince the Lord how things should be or are we genuinely wanting to know what God has in store for us and seeing how His power and Glory will work through our lives to resolve our problem or concern ? Remember Gods says “my ways are not your ways” Is 55:8
- Do we pray to the Father for all the things we want like a slot machine expecting a payout or do we approach our gracious and good Father asking for provision but knowing that he takes care of all our needs seeking to know Him and His will? Mat 6:25-26
This Blog has been a challenge for me to examine my motives when I come to the Father in prayer. My prayer is that it will be thought provoking for each of you as you pray with the Father this week.
image sourced from google images
This is kind of like last week’s post in that it’s making me think about the need to be purposeful and not just mindless or routine about my relationship with God. We’re not earning brownie points with all of our religious activities. This is a RELATIONSHIP with a Person. Sonia and I would not have a relationship if we just had a few phrases that we stored up and made sure we just said them to each other once every week or so and then checked them off of our list for the week.
Karl, I loved #2 in your wrap up. Thanks for that! So often I think we are trying to make God do what we want, instead of humbling ourselves and asking for Him to reveal His ways and His plan to us. I loved how you worded it also. Thanks again!