Why Do We Pray?
Scripture Reference: Matthew 6:6-8
Matthew 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
INTRODUCTION
As I continue to move forward in the ministry I understand one thing to be true more than anything else and that is that there is power in prayer
The reason I say this is because there are several people that approach me with different situations and there is always one answer that is common to all problems and instrumental to all healing and deliverance that is to take place
That common solution is that there is always a need for more prayer
MAIN BODY
It is interesting and I am glad that when Jesus displayed his power of deliverance he did it several different ways. In fact, I can go as far as to say that he never delivered a person the same way twice
This is good because had he had a favorite method of delivery then that would certainly be used as doctrine in today’s theological studies
When I am questioned concerning any of the difficult challenges that life may bring our way I am always sure to include prayer as the first remedy to any situation
One of the most ineffective prayers is to launch a prayer at a person or situation when they are in disagreement with you
It seems so convenient to pray out loud against someone when you are in disagreement but in actuality the proper and most effective use of prayer is to pray for the other person when you enter your prayer closet
This brings another problem because many of us have long left our prayer closets and we have deemed them as no longer necessary now that we have erected our sophisticated and public prayer alters
Jesus is teaching in this scripture that we should always remember to use our private payer area.
Not only does Jesus advice us to pray in our secret closet but he also advises us to close the door behind us when we pray
Have you ever thought about why Jesus said to close the door behind us
When is the last time (honestly) that you have been in a closet with the door closed praying
Every time I think of being in closet closed up I can only think of having an invasion by the “boogeyman”
I wonder where this came from
I wonder what force could have made sure that me as well as many other children are afraid to close themselves in a closet for fear of the “boogeyman” attacking
I am sure with today’s standard there are many people with closets that have lighting but I don’t think that Jesus had these types of closets in mind when he suggested that we close ourselves in a closet
As I write this I am getting an eerie feeling knowing that I must now go in my prayer closet literally because I would not dare suggest something to you that I have never done
While we are on the subject of boogeyman and Satan it is interesting how no one in the new testament (except Jesus) has claimed to have had a face to face confrontation with Satan
In other words, even if we were confronted by Satan, would we be able to identify him
Usually when I think of Satan I think of someone so bad that I would easily be able to identify him out of any crowd but is this really true
I had this conversation with some of my religious friends. One said (Making a very long conversation very short), “We have to always remember that his position in heaven was the minister of music so he would probably dwell somewhere where music is being played.”
I immediately began to think about all of the music that is most popular and how the one thing that it doesn’t want you to think about is the glory of God
I began to think about how many would be saints have been eternally lost because of a favorite song that led to ungodly memories which led to other things which ultimately and subtly led them away from the glory of God
This was a stiff reminder that I have got to be careful about the music that I listen to because I have noticed how when I hear a good beat my body began to move almost uncontrollably regardless of what the lyrics were saying
The next friend that I talked to said (Again making a very long conversation very short), “Why would Satan need to show himself to us anyway?”
I did not get as much from this conversation as I did the first but that is true
He really does not gain anything by exposing himself to us
He has plenty ambassadors that have been wreaking enough panic on us that he never needs to show up
This takes me back to my story about the closet
Why are (some of us) afraid of this closet anyway?
We are running from an enemy that exist totally in our mind
We have to create his existence in our minds or he will not exist
I am not saying that Satan is not real I am simply reminding the saints that no one in the new testament has claimed to have a face to face (except Jesus) so for us to be able to identify him could be a very challenging task
He really doesn’t have a good description that we can follow
By me dedicating as much time to Satan’s hiding tactic I am sure that some will think that I am giving him his much needed publicity
However I believe that by me reminding you that he only exist as much as we feed him into our spirit we can go into our closet and not be disturbed by this creature of our mind
Satan knows much better than you do how much power is in your prayer so he is doing everything that he can think of to stop you
CONCLUSION
Instead of asking, “Why do we pray?“ I should really ask “Why do we skip prayer?”
However I am sure that you could never answer this question and it would probably cause you to lie and say that you do pray when you don’t and haven’t for a while and really don’t feel the need to pray
I am in no way trying to create a new doctrine claiming that God only hears you when you pray in your closet. This would only be another foolish attempt to put God in a box that he would break and make me look foolish.
However I am saying that since Jesus recommended it then there absolutely must be some power in our prayer closets. Saints this is truly a message from God because I had no intention of writing about this when I titled and started this message.
Let’s Pray:
Dear Lord, we thank you for all that you are doing in our lives and we believe that you can do anything that you say that you can do. We come to you right now asking for your mercy and forgiveness as we have denied you the pleasure of enjoying your required quiet time with us in our prayer closet but I am turning away from my forgetful and unthankful ways and I am determined to begin to pray in my closet from this day forward.
Thank You. May God continue to bless you and keep you. Amen
Your Friend
Minister Juan D. Lane Sr.
