MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT PRAYER
MATTHEW 6:7-8
#Matt6Prayer
INTRODUCTION
READ MATTHEW 6:7-8 (ESV) [READ TOGETHER ALOUD]
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”
Prayer is communication with God in Jesus’ Name by the power of the Holy Spirit.
MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT PRAYER… https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-10-misconceptions-of-prayer [adapted]
When it comes to the topic of prayer, you and I have ideas about prayer that may or may not be true. Our ideas about prayer just kind of sneak into our minds and hearts and we may not even realize that what we believe or what we do is correct or incorrect. The reason why I’d like to begin today talking about these misconceptions, is because Matthew 6:7-8 speaks to one of them and having the wrong idea about prayer may discourage us from praying!
What are some misconceptions?
#1 Prayer is a one-way street.
We often talk to God like He's a wall or like we are in an empty room. We have the tendency to just talk and talk and talk… which is fine… but we need to make time to be still and let God speak to us as well. Take time to be still. God wants to give us advice and directions. He wants to encourage us.
It might be helpful to pray with our Bible open and also to think about ourselves entering the throne room of God each time we pray.
#2 God only listens to us when we have been good.
God is a Perfect Holy God. That is 100% true. It is also 100% true that God also desired to communicate with us even while we were sinners. He still desires that. Jesus Christ came so that the sin that separates us from God is washed away clean and we can approach God boldly and confidently knowing that we can have a relationship with Him regardless of what we have done. God hears us even when we are sinful.
#3 Prayer only works when you take action too, for God helps those who help themselves.
God empowers the weak. God makes strengths out of our weaknesses. There are problems and people and situations that we are powerless to overcome, but that is why we rely on our Heavenly Father. We can ask God for help. We can ask God to change our hearts. God is our ever present Heavenly Father Who will not forget us or forsake us.
#4 Prayers need to sound like begging.
If this were true, then God would only answer our prayers if we act desperate enough. We do not find that in any Scripture. There will be times that we are desperate and plead with God, but not all prayers are that way. Hebrews 4 describes coming with confidence before God in prayer. Pray humbly, but powerfully knowing that God hears and answers. God loves prayers that are prayed out of faith and a great expectation that He will do His will. He wants us to come before Him already knowing that He is listening to us. Prayer is not a beg session like we are on a street corner. Jesus says to just ask Him, believing that we have already received what we have prayed for.
It might be helpful to begin our prayers with telling God how great He is (adoration) and prayers of thanks to Him instead of just starting with things we need.
#5 Prayers get answered right away or not at all.
A prayer delayed is not necessarily a prayer denied or a “no.” You might not see any visible results quickly, but part of prayer and being a person of faith means we know that God is working actively behind the scenes on our behalf. We pray and wait on God's timing. We pray and do so for His will for He knows what He is doing.
It might be helpful to keep a prayer journal where you write down the people, situations, and issues you pray over so you can make notes about what God is doing in each of them.
#6 We need key Christian words to make our prayers work.
God loves all prayer. Our Father in Heaven is looking at our hearts and the faith that we have in Him. God does not require certain rehearsed prayers or ‘thee to speaketh in a certain wayeth when thou prays.’ He does not require fancy language. Believe it or not, sometimes prayer does not even have words… but prayer is at times silently waiting in His presence. There might be times when we are too sad and too burdened to say anything. Sitting in the presence of God is prayer. God knows our hearts. He sees us in every moment of our lives.
#7 Prayer is boring.
Prayer is only boring if we make it boring. Prayer can be boring if we treat it like a task or chore or something on a to-do list. Prayer can be boring if we think its only place is right before a meal and it has to rhyme. Prayer is communicating with God the Father in Jesus’ Name in the power of the Holy Spirit. God works in prayer. God answers prayer. God ministers to our hearts in prayer. God does not always answer our prayers in the way that we expect or ask, but He does always answer according to His will.
#8 Pray about something once, then if you pray about it again it’s a sin.
Many people think that we don't need to pray if God already knows everything. Some may think that we don't need to pray if we've already prayed about it. Many people think that we don't need to pray about something more than once because that is worry and worry is a sin so praying about something more than once is a sin. The truth is, God already knows what you and I are going to pray about even before we’ve prayed it. The point of prayer is not to shake the vending machine and get what we want. The point of prayer is to communicate with God and allow Him to change our hearts. Believers in Jesus have a relationship with God and prayer is communication in that relationship.
#9 Prayers at church are louder and God answers those real prayers quicker.
The Apostle Paul says to pray without ceasing. This doesn't mean we are on our knees 24/7, 365 days a year praying, but what he is saying is that prayer is more than a duty that we commit to do once or several times a day. Prayer is a lifestyle. Prayer is an attitude. Prayer is an all day long process of committing all our thoughts and feelings to God.
In addition, praying does not have to be in church. Prayer does not even have to be with our head bowed, our eyes closed, and our hands folded. We can stand while praying. We can walk while praying. We can be flat on our face when praying. We can kneel. We can pray while reading the Bible.
#10 God only hears the prayers of Christians.
God listens to anyone to cries out to Him. In the Bible, there are countless stories of ungodly evil people or murderers who cried out to the Lord and He heard them. A person does not have to be a saintly person in order to earn the right to be heard by God. God freely gives. I looked at some of those prayers and most if not all were also combined with repentance. I do happen to think… and this is me speaking only… that the prayer God looks for first from an unbelieving person is confession of sin and confession of faith. Many of the promises we have in the Bible are given to those of us who are believers, but God certainly does listen any time anyone prays to Him.
REVIEW
#1 Prayer is a one-way street.
#2 God only listens to us when we have been good.
#3 Prayer only works when you take action too, for God helps those who help themselves.
#4 Prayers need to sound like begging.
#5 Prayers get answered right away or not at all.
#6 We need key Christian words to make our prayers work.
#7 Prayer is boring.
#8 Pray about something once, then if you pray about it again it’s a sin.
#9 Prayers at church are louder and God answers those real prayers quicker.
#10 God only hears the prayers of Christians.
You may have some ideas about prayer that you may or may not be sure about. I’d like to encourage you to come tonight to the evening service where we will dig in a little deeper into prayer and right thinking about prayer.
I hope that you can see that if some of those things we just talked about are true, prayer becomes something that we may not want to do. If prayer is a chore or has so many rules to it, we may not want to pray. Depending on how we view God we may not want to pray either. God is not waiting for us to mess up in prayer and then point his finger. God does not have a checklist on how we pray or what we pray before He offers answers or blessings.
The joy of prayer is sucked out of prayer if some of those are true. If you find yourself believing some of those things, I am so sorry. Truly.
Prayer with our Heavenly Father is meant to be fulfilling, moving, satisfying, freeing, comforting, corrective, and strengthening.
Prayer with our Heavenly Father is meant to be all of those things because He is gracious, merciful, strong, all-knowing, and has the perfect plan.
PRAYERS IN THE BIBLE
There are so many prayers in the Bible that you and I can learn from. These prayers illustrate many the truths we have been speaking about this morning and show us that some of our misconceptions are wrong.
Job 2 describes Job’s friends coming and praying with him in silence before the Lord for 7 days and 7 nights. Job’s whole life had literally and figuratively fallen down and he was in shock and grief. His life had changed so much that even his physical appearance had changed. Job 2:12-13 says, “And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.” Sitting in silence towards heaven is prayer. We sit. We can sit before the Lord not knowing what to say or think. We can ask God to be in His presence and for Him to take care of us.
1 Samuel 1 shares with us Hannah’s story and her prayers. She was in a difficult marriage and had no children. Her heart was in distress and she went before the Lord in prayer and just did her best. 1 Samuel 1:12-13 says: “As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard.” Hannah did not have the words to say for her prayers, and yet her prayers were heard and she gave birth to a son and named him Samuel. God answered her prayers.
1 Kings 21:25-27 we have evil King Ahab hearing from a prophet of God and praying and repenting. God got his attention. 1 Kings says it all: “(There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. 26 He acted very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the people of Israel.) 27 And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly.” God heard evil King Ahab’s prayers and had mercy. God is mercy. God is grace. God wants to answer prayer.
Matthew 14 records for us Peter jumping out of the boat and walking on the water with Jesus. A lot of times we think Jesus did the walking and Peter did the sinking, but that is not what this passage describes. Jesus walked on water as did Peter. Peter’s walk was interrupted and in Mark 14:30-31 it says: “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out His hand and took hold of him.” Notice Peter’s three-word prayer. It was only three words long. He did not have to say something like, “Oh thee my Messiah, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, reach out thine righteous strong hand and catcheth me for I sinketh into the depths of the sea.” It was a three-word prayer which Jesus answered. You might say… that’s not prayer… he’s just talking to Jesus. What do you think prayer is?
In Matthew 26, we find Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane praying and preparing for His betrayal and unlawful arrest. We know Jesus is in distress because his emotions cause the capillaries in his head to burst which means he sweat drops of blood. That is a real physical thing that can happen to us. Jesus is praying. 26:44 says, “So, leaving them again, He went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.” Jesus prayed for the same thing using the same words over and over and over. I want you to notice that He is not contradicting Himself by praying empty words or babbling on and on, but Jesus is praying for something more than once. He prayed about what was going on in His heart. We can do that as well.
REVIEW/TRANSITION
So thus far this morning, we have looked at some misconceptions about prayer and dug into those a little bit. I’d like for you to be thinking about the assumptions you have about prayer and if they are true or false. Having a right attitude about prayer is important because a right attitude will motivate us to pray.
We have also looked at some people praying in the Old Testament and New Testament which illustrate the falseness of some of the misconceptions we talked about. I also think we can learn from those positive examples.
I would like to now turn to our passage for this morning, but I’d like us to again read it and read it aloud together.
RE-READ MATTHEW 6:7-8 (ESV) [READ TOGETHER ALOUD]
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”
BREAKING DOWN MATTHEW 6:7-8
VERSE 7
Notice again, just like last week, Jesus says “WHEN you pray” not “IF you pray.” Prayer is expected for a person of faith. It is expected that you and I value our relationship with God and we will speak to Him and He with us. You and I don’t need to compare our prayer lives with someone else, but we do need to take personal inventory of how important prayer is to us. How important is speaking to God for us?
Prayer speaks to the depth of our relationship with God. Some would say our frequency or depth in prayer is a direct measure of our attitude toward God in the deepest parts of ourselves.
If we trust in Him, we pray.
If we believe in Him, we pray.
Jesus continues in the verse and lets us know that our prayers to God should be meaningful to us and use words that describe our hearts to Him. It is possible to say empty words and repeat words over and over that mean nothing to us. Some Christian traditions have chants in other languages or phrases that people are to repeat, but they are empty because the person may not mean it. Each word we say to God is important and should come from our heart no matter what it is.
Let me also say that we are not heard by God because of our many words. We are not heard by God because of the right words. We are not heard by God because our bodies are in the right positon or we have our hands in a certain way. We are heard by God because He is All-Seeing and All-Knowing and All-Powerful and He loves us deeply.
VERSE 8
Jesus teaches us that God knows the needs in our lives. He knows the ins and outs of our relationships. God has a will that is done on Earth just like it is in Heaven. Some might ask, after reading verse 8, if God already knows everything and He already has His answer ready… what is the point of prayer?
First, even though God already knows everything and He already has His answer ready, He still wants us to ask. God still wants to hear from us even though He knows what it is our hearts are longing for. He wants us to ask and He wants us to ask with right motives. We need to pray.
Second, even though God already knows everything and He already has His answer ready, our hearts need to be ready to receive the answer. God does not always answer “yes” or “no” or in the manner that we think is best. Prayer forms our hearts in faith to receive His answers. We need to pray.
APPLICATION OF VERSES 7-8
I find this interesting: Jesus teaches us very clearly in verses 7-8 that empty repetitive words are not effective in prayer. Then, in the next passage Jesus gives an example prayer in verses 9-13 (which we will look at next week). What do Christians all over the world do? We often recite the "Lord's Prayer" as part of worship services and do so over and over and over again. For many it has become mechanical and heartless. We take this passage on prayer and do exactly what He tells us not to do with it.
The prayer life that Jesus describes in these verses is one that is based on a relationship with God the Father. Jesus is trying to focus us in prayer that it is not the words we say or the amount of words we say or the order in which we say them, but our prayer life is all about the motivation of our heart.
* Prayer is very much about changing our heart to be more like His.
* Prayer molds our will to His will.
* Prayer adds to our character and shifts us to value what He values.
* Prayer means we listen to His voice and His Word.
* Prayer means we are still before God and let Him do His work.
CHALLENGE
Last week on the back of the sermon notes I had a calendar for praying for the rest of the month. I have included it again this week just in case you weren’t here. I have added a guide to the bulletin this week about praying for our country and elected officials. Our country is 2 months or so away from an election and we need to be diligently praying for our country. The guide helps us pray for our country. I hope you find it helpful.
GOSPEL PRESENTATION
As we close this morning, I would like to mention something for those of us who are here and have not chosen Jesus as Lord and Savior. Verse 8 that we have looked at this morning says: “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” Notice that God knows before we ask Him. How? He is all-knowing and all-powerful. The Creator God of the Universe Who sent His Son as a sacrifice for our sins knows all. He knows all and He still sent His Son. He knows how each of us has sinned and yet… He still loves us. Romans 5:6 says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” God saw all that we are and sent Jesus anyway. He knew it all and Jesus Christ died for us anyway. Nothing you have done catches God off-guard and He still wants you to come to Him.
PRAYER
INVITATION
