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Praying in Secret
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Matthew 6:5,6 And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Listen to the radio broadcast of Praying in Secret
Download audio fileHave you ever heard other people praying and thought to yourself, “Wow, I can’t pray like that? That prayer was so eloquent. It made so much sense. I wonder if God even wants to listen to my crummy prayers?”
It’s easy to imagine that we need to do things that impress God. I mean, we understandably want to put our best foot forward, as it were, when we approach Him. That’s only natural. So obviously we want to pray eloquent prayers. We want to make sure that we pray for long enough – that sort of thing. But I wonder whether that stuff actually impresses God at all.
Or are we more interested in impressing other people with our holier-than-thou prayer life? Well, you know, I get up at 5 am to pray. I pray for an hour or more. I … I … I …
Do you get the point? Jesus ran into a lot of people like that – religious leaders who made a habit of getting dressed up in their finery and praying long-winded, high-falutin’ prayers. Everybody would listen and think ooh-aah-eeh! There’s a super-spiritual man. No wonder he’s a religious leader. But Jesus said:
Matthew 6:5,6 And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
In other words, stop trying to impress God and just get real with Him in your prayer life. That’s what He’s looking for. Nothing more, nothing less.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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