Gospel

Praying to God

by Roland Crim
01/19/18
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“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 others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 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. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Matthew 6:5-8 NIV

Is Jesus telling us not to pray publicly, and to keep our prayer to as few words as possible? I think the answer to both parts of this question is NO. Certainly we can pray in public. We do so at church, and we can do so with people on the street, or in other gatherings. But we must remember that prayer is not for recognition before man. Prayer is communication with our heavenly Father, and with the Lord. We pray to worship God for who He is, to thank Him for that which He has done, and to ask from Him based on His love, mercy, and compassion. God knows that which we need, even before we ask for it. He knows we have a need even before we do. When we give Him praise in prayer, what matters is that we do it in sincerity. When we thank Him for that which He has done, we acknowledge that it is from Him, and not of ourselves. When we ask for a need, we should make sure it is a need, and not just a want. We don’t need to be on a time clock when we pray, but our prayer needs to be in earnest and in sincerity.

Our Father loves us and is ready when we come to Him in prayer. He is ready to hear and waiting to help.