On the subject of prayer; Jesus said,
"And when you pray, do not pray like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, 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" (Mat 6: 5-8)
The Jesus Prayer Model
The above three verses spoken by Jesus and recorded by the disciple Matthew emphasizes a couple of obvious things that as christians we should be aware of and then of course what our natural response should be; prayer exists, prayer is indeed important to Jesus if mentioned more than once but instead, 17 times in the gospels, the clear instruction of Jesus on prayer was His clear dislike to people who were only content to communicate with God through prayer like other pagan religions when their was an existent public audience.
The Weakness of Man
In the first two verses Jesus identified the weaknesses men and women tend to have for public acknowledgement in religious observance and practise but on the other hand Jesus provided an answer to this question of weakness by urging true believers to develop a sincere dialogue with God on a personal level on a one to one level. The above verses highlight the priority again in a self-driven and self-promoting society where the true priority of life begins and ends with prayer and how the true nature of prayer can be distinguished from false prayerful practises.
The Importance of Trust
Also, the other hidden characteristic of prayer that the above verses contain is whether an individual can ultimately rest and trust in that which was communicated and exchanged in prayer between that person and God; was that particular experience in prayer was pure and legitimate, or was God really present and would He indeed hear and answer every request in His perfect timing and season? So, as christians if we were all to have honestly reflected in hindsight on our journey of prayer we would have had our motives and desires particularly tested in the hidden times of prayer when we have made our secret desires known only to God instead of our closest family members and friends.
The Hidden Reward
So, Jesus is also emphasizing another helpful key to generating a healthy but intimate relationship with him and God, and, this is the need to keep some requests and desires secret or private before their God given time. This principal of intimacy is also clearly illustrated in the context and boundaries of a healthy marriage between a husband and wife. The husband of course in a unique moment of intimate sharing would not go ahead and share an intimate secret with his father or mother as this of course biblically was intended in the first place to be shared and enjoyed for that relationship alone for the building up of that unique and identifiable nuclear relationship. Perhaps one of the reasons why we as christians have not personally experienced more answers to our requests in prayer is that instead of waiting patiently on God in private for His perfect season and timing we have closed the door of opportunity and personal breakthrough by becoming impatient and making our requests public through mere desperation and unbelief. Dutch Sheets (D.Sheets, Intercessory Prayer, pg.17) says,
"A lack of endurance is one of the greatest causes of defeat, especially in prayer. We don't wait well. We're into microwaving; God, on the other hand, is usually into marinating."
We all have the daily battle of placing trust before unbelief in God, patience instead of impatience in God and the need to find our self-esteem first in a hidden relationship with an unseen God instead of human relationships.
In conclusion, don't be discouraged with the thought of prayer and even over contemplating what happened in the past about prayer but the gentle challenge of today is to trust a fresh in God and know that he always responds gladly to a sincere heart. Our moto in closing needs to be, "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary."(Gal 6:9)
http://www.archive.org/details/TheForgottenArtOfPrayer
Shalom
FCC
