God's Purpose for Prayer (Matt. 6:9-15)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/31/2020 9:06 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-1 “God’s Purpose for Prayer”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 6:9-15

 

            Message of the verses:  “9 "Pray, then, in this way: ’Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 10 ’Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 ’Give us this day our daily bread. 12 ’And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 ’And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.’ 14 “For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 “But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”

 

            I think that perhaps I will put all of these verses on each SD until we are done studying this prayer because I don’t think that we will really be looking at it a verse at a time, but we will see.

 

            If I would ask the question “what is the Lord’s purpose for prayer?”  The answer has to be the same thing that is in the first section of Westminster shorter Catechism which is to glorify God in all we do, and so in prayer we are to glorify God.  This document was written in 1643 in England and the shorter version was written a few years later.

 

            MacArthur add “Although nothing benefits a believer more than prayer, the purpose in praying must first of all be for the sake of God, not self.  Prayer is, above al, an opportunity for God to manifest His goodness and glory.  An old saint said, ‘True prayer brings the mind to the immediate contemplation of God’s character and holds it there until the believer’s soul is properly impressed.’  Jesus affirmed the purpose of prayer when He said, ‘And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified’ (John 14:13).”  So we come back to John 14:13 again as we begin our study of “The Disciples’ Prayer.”

 

            It is probably true that in our evangelical church today that we do not desire to bring glory to God when we pray, but we seek man’s needs.  Some in what could be called the Charismatic movement and others as well say that we can demand things from God and He is obligated to answer those demands.  This is a false hope at best, and perhaps even blasphemy at worst.  God is not here for us, but we are here to bring glory to God, and as we do this in prayer we will certainly desire to have our wills lined up with God’s will.  In Daniel’s prayer from chapter nine Daniel was praying for something found in Jeremiah 25:11 where the Lord promised Israel that they would be in captivity for 70 years, and the 70 years were almost up and so Daniel prayed that the Lord would fulfill that promise that He gave through Jeremiah, thus bring glory to the Lord.

 

            MacArthur writes “Because prayer is so absolutely important and because we often do not have the wisdom to pray as we ought or for what we ought, God has commissioned His own Holy Spirit to help us.  ‘We do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words’ (Rom. 8:26).  That is surely what Paul means when he urges believers to ‘pray at all times in the Spirit’ (Eph. 6:18).

 

            “In the few words of Matthew 6:9-15 our Lord gives a succinct but marvelously comprehensive outline of what true prayer should be.  As we will discuss later, the second part of verse 13, a doxology, was possibly not a part of the original text.  The prayer proper has two sections; the first section deals with God’s glory (9-10) and the second with man’s need (vv. 11-13a).  Each section is composed of three petitions.  The first three are petitions in behalf of God’s name, His kingdom, and His will.  The second three are petitions for daily bread, forgiveness, and protection from temptation.”

 

            So now we have a brief outline of the brief prayer that is so filled with truth that I suppose that perhaps 100’s if not 1,000’s of books have been written on it.

 

10/31/2020 9:35 AM  

 

 

Intro to "The Disciples' Prayer PT-1" (Matt. 6:9-15)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/30/2020 11:57 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                Focus:  Intro to “The Disciples’ Prayer—PT- 1”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 6:9-15

 

            Message of the verses:  9 "Pray, then, in this way: ’Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 10 ’Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 ’Give us this day our daily bread. 12 ’And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 ’And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.’ 14 “For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 “But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”

 

            As I was looking at the Scripture that is in MacArthur’s commentary I found that he has a book dedicated to what is in what is called “The Lord’s Prayer” and the book is entitled “Jesus’ Pattern of Prayer” and so I ordered a used copy of this book and I hope to use it in this very, very important study that we are about to begin.

 

            As we look at the life of Jesus Christ while on earth we see that He probably began His ministry when He was 30 years of age.  One of the things that we see is that His life was a great pattern of prayer as He fulfilled what Paul wrote “Pray without Ceasing.”  We don’t know much about His early years other than His birth and also a little story from Luke’s gospel when He was 12 years old.  He was in the Temple actually teaching those scribes who were there at that time.  Eighteen years later He began His ministry and it could be said that His ministry was a ministry of prayer. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “Someone has said that many Christians offer their prayers like sailors use their pumps—only when the ship leaks.  But to be obedient disciples of Christ, to experience the fullness of communion with God, and to open the floodgates of heaven’s blessings, believers must pray as Jesus prayed.  In addition to that, we must know how to pray.  If we do not know how to pray and what to pray for, it does little good to go through the motions.  But if we know how to pray, and then pray that way, every other part of our lives will be strengthened and put in proper perspective.  As Martyn Lloyd-Jones has beautifully expressed it Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, ‘Man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes face to face to God.’”

 

            We know that the Bible teaches much about prayer, and the importance of prayer, and the power of prayer as prayer is effective; it makes a difference.  James writes in James 5:16b “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”  An example of this comes from when the servant of Abraham prayed and then Rebekah appeared.  Jacob wrestled and prayed, and Esau’s mind was turned from twenty years of revenge.  Another example is that when Moses prayed that Amalek was struck.  One that I just read about this morning was that Hannah prayed, and Samuel was born.  Isaiah and Hezekiah prayed and the next morning 187,000 Assyrians were found slain.  When Elijah prayed there were three and a half years of drought, and then when he prayed again God sent the rain.  These are only a small portion of things related to prayer found in the Word of God.  Now the Jews to whom Jesus was preaching too should have had unlimited confidence in the power of prayer.  The question is “Did they?”

 

            John MacArthur concludes this introduction with the following paragraph:  “Prayer is vital to every other aspect of kingdom living.  We cannot, for example, give (see Matt. 6:2-4) or fast (see 6:16-18) properly unless we are in constant communion with God.  The only giving that God wants is that which is sincere, willing, and done to His glory—giving that comes from a life of personal communion with Him.  Fasting is meaningless apart from prayer, because apart from prayer it is apart from God.  It will be a meaningless religious ritual.  The greatest emphasis in this passage (6:1-18), therefore is given in prayer.”

 

            Lord willing in our next SD we will begin to look at “God’s Purpose,” then after that “God’s Paternity,” God’s Priority,” “God’s Program,” “God’s Plan,” and then several sub-sections under “God’s Plan.”  So buckle up as this study of what is commonly called “The Lord’s Prayer” will take us several weeks, if not months to get through, and then my prayer is that all who follow this, and also myself, will have a greater prayer life, one that will truly glorify God.

 

10/30/2020 12:41 PM

PT-2 "The Content of Prayer" (Matt. 6:7-8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/29/2020 9:37 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  PT-2 “The Content of Prayer”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Matthew 6:7-8

 

            Message of the verses:  “7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless

repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him.”

 

True Content:  Sincere Requests Matthew 6:8

 

            The above title is what we will be looking at in today’s SD, as I mentioned in our last SD that there are two sub-sections under the main section of “The Content of Prayer,” and this is the second one which comes from the 8^th verse.  I also mentioned that after this sub-section we will be going into the first part of what is mistakenly called “The Lord’s Prayer.”  Notice verse 9a and how our Lord continues on the theme of prayer:  “9"Pray, then, in this way:” 

 

            When we think of prayer to our Father we do not have to badger or cajole Him for our “Father knows what we need, before we ask Him as seen in this verse.  John MacArthur quotes Martin Luther who said “By our praying…we are instructing ourselves more than we are Him.”  “So we see that the purpose of prayer is not to inform or persuade God” as MacArthur writes, “but so come before Him sincerely, purposely, consciously, and devotedly” as quoted from John Scott in a book entitled “Christian Counter-Culture:  The Message of the Sermon on the Mount.”

 

            So exactly is praying?  We could say that praying is sharing the needs, burdens, and hunger of our hearts before our heavenly Father, and even though we know He already knows what we need, He is the One who wants us to ask Him.  MacArthur continues on this subject “He wants to hear us, He wants to commune with us, more than we could ever want to commune with Him—because His love for us is so much greater than our love for Him.  Prayer is our giving God the opportunity to manifest His power, majesty, love, and providence (cf. John 14:13).”  “"And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

 

              We have written about this in the past as we looked back at what may have happened in eternity past as the Triune God planned in advance how angels, humans, and animals would be created on one little planet, and then as if an afterthought “He created the stars too.”  The purpose for this was to bring glory to the Second Person of the Godhead, our Lord Jesus Christ, and when we pray to our Father who knows what we need and He answers our prayers then His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified, and that is a part of what was planned in eternity past.

 

            MacArthur goes on to write “To pray rightly is to pray with a devout heart and with pure motives.  It is to pray with single attention to God rather than to other men.  And it is to pray with sincere confidence that our heavenly Father both hears and answers every request made to Him in faith.  He always repays our sincere devotion with gracious response.  If our request is sincere but not according to His will, He will answer in a way better than we want or expect.  But He will always answer.

 

            “It is reported that D. L. Moody once felt so surfeited with God’s blessings that he prayed, ‘God stop.’  That is what God will do with every faithful believer who comes to Him as an expectant child to his father—smother him in more blessings than can be counted or named.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my thought that the more that I know God the better I can pray to Him, for knowing Him shows me how to pray to Him.  God is not a grandfather figure where we can go to Him with our requests and He will automatically answer, for what we may be asking Him may not glorify His Son, which according to John 14:13 tells us we must do. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord with all of my heart that He knows me and always wants the best for me.

 

10/29/2020 10:14 AM

PT-1 "The Content of Prayer" (Matt. 6:7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/28/2020 10:03 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: PT-1“The Content of Prayer”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 6:7-8

 

            Message of the verse:  7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him.”

 

            I mentioned at the end of our last SD that we would be looking at a main section that has two sub-sections to it.  The first sub-section we will be looking at this morning along with the short introduction of the main section.  “False Content:  Meaningless Repetition” is the first sub-section which comes from Matthew 6:7.  “True Content:  Sincere Requests” is the second sub-section and it comes from Matthew 6:8.

 

            MacArthur writes the following as he introduces these two verses:  “The Content of Prayer.”  A second area in which much prayer of Jesus’ day fell short was that of content.  The hypocritical prayers of the scribes and Pharisees not only were given in the wrong spirit but were given in meaningless words.  They had no substance, no significant content.  To be acceptable to God, Jesus declared, prayers must be genuine expressions of worship and of heartful requests and petitions.”

 

False Content:  Meaningless Repetition

 

7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.”

 

            Jesus speaks of meaningless repetition in verse seven as being a wrong way to pray.  We have touched on this in an earlier SD, but I think that as we think of chanting we will get the idea of meaningless repetition.  You can see an example of this in the story of Elijah confronting the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18.  Don’t think that when you pray for something over and over again that is perhaps on your prayer list that you are doing this, for that is not what Jesus is talking about.  I have a list of retired Pastors on my prayer list that began with one man and has not expanded to others too.  One of the things that I have been praying for years is that God will continue to give these men opportunities to preach.  Two of these men are now preaching at our church as we await God to bring us our next Pastor.  One preaches on Sunday mornings and one on Wednesday evening.  God has answered my prayers that I have prayed for most every day for the last five years.

 

            John MacArthur writes “Use meaningless repetition’ is one word (from battalogeoe) in the Greek and refers to idle, thoughtless chatter.  It was probably onomatopoetic, mimicking that sounds of meaningless jabber.”

 

            Not all of the Jews were using this kind of repetition, but what they were doing was praying prayers each day in kind of a trance like state, not really realizing what they were saying as they just repeated certain prayers.  “To these people, prayer was simply a matter of required religious ceremony, and they could be entirely indifferent to its content.  As long as it was officially approved, one pattern was as good as another” (MacArthur).

 

            In the case of the Jews this problem did not always involve hypocrisy, but it did always involve a wrong attitude, having a wrong heart.  What these proud hypocrites tried to do was to use God to glorify themselves, whereas those who used meaningless repetition were simply indifferent to what real communion was with God.

 

            It is believed that the Jews picked up this practice from the Gentiles which Jesus mentioned in verse seven as they believed that the longer the prayer the better chance it would be answered.  We can see this today with the Buddhists and the Roman Catholics as they light candles in the belief that their requests will continue to ascend repetitiously to God as long as the candle is lit.  MacArthur adds on this subject “Rosaries are used to count off repeated prayers of Hail Mary and Our Father, the rosary itself coming to Catholicism from Buddhism by way of the Spanish Muslims during the Middle ages.  Certain charismatic groups in our day repeat the same words or phrases over and over until the speaking degenerates to unintelligible confusion (John A. Broadus, Matthew [Valley Forge, Pa.” Judson 1886], p. 130).

 

            MacArthur concludes this section:  “It is not honest, properly motivated repetition of needs or praise before God that is wrong, but the mindless, indifferent recital of spiritual-sounding incantations or magical formulas over and over.  Not only must our hearts be right before God will hear our prayer, but also our minds.  Thoughtless prayer is almost as offensive to God as heartless prayer.  In most instances they go together.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I desire to continue to learn more about prayer, and am thankful that the Lord is using this section to teach me more about prayer, and now I want to make sure that my heart is right when I use my prayer list.  I just don’t want to say the words on my list but seek God to give glory to Himself as He answers these prayers.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to teach me more about prayer.

 

10/28/2020 10:36 AM

PT-2 "The True Audience: God" (Matt. 6:6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/27/2020 10:06 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-2 “The True Audience:  God”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 6:6

 

            Message of the verse:  “6 "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”

 

            I believe that Jesus is saying that the majority of our prayer life should be in secret, praying privately to the Father in the name of Jesus our Lord.  We can see this in the life of Our Lord as He would go off by Himself and pray to His Father.  When He chose all of His disciples we see that He was up all night praying before doing this task. 12 It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles” (Luke 6:12-13).  John MacArthur writes “Our family members or friends may know that we are praying, but what we say is not meant for them to hear.  Chrysostom, commented that in his day (the fourth century A. D.) many Christians prayed so loud in their rooms that everyone down the hall heard what they said.  If people sometimes happen to overhear our private prayers, it should not be by our intention.”

 

            When we read “and your Father who sees in secret” does not mean He is not present when we pray in public, or with our families or other small groups of believers. Our Father is very much present whenever and wherever His children call on Him, as He would not have it any other way.  What Jesus’ point here has to do with the singleness of intention.  True prayer is always intimate.  Even when we pray in public, if the heart is right and concentrated on God, will in a real and profound way shut one up alone in the very presence of God.

 

            MacArthur writes “In the pattern of prayer Jesus taught His disciples, He begins with ‘Our Father’ (Matt. 6:9), indicating that other believers may be present and that the prayer is corporate.  But even when prayer represents the feelings and needs of others who are present, the supreme attention is to be on God.  In that sense, even the most public prayer is ‘in secret.’  Even if the whole world hears what we say, there is an intimacy and focus on God in that communion that is unaffected.”

 

            When we see the phrase that God “sees in secret” it n the sense that He never betrays a confidence is what is meant here.  I would have to say that many of my prayers to my heavenly Father are as they say “for His ears only.”  He is my heavenly Father who loves me more than anyone can, and therefore I trust Him to understand what I am praying about, especially the very personal things that I tell Him.  It certainly is my desire to have a clean heart whenever I pray to God in order to make sure that can have real fellowship with Him in my prayers.

 

            MacArthur picks up on this by writing “Furthermore, when our prayer is as it should be, ‘our Father who sees in secret will repay’ us.  The most important ‘secret’ He ‘sees’ is not the words we say in the privacy of our room, but the thoughts we have in the privacy of our heart.  Those are the secrets about which He is supremely concerned, and about which only He can know with certainty (cf. 1 Cor. 4:3-5).  Those secrets sometimes are hidden even from ourselves, because it is so easy to be deceived about our own motives.

 

            “When God is genuinely the audience of our prayer, we will have the reward only He can give.  Jesus gives no idea in this passage as to what God’s reward, or repayment, will be.  The important truth is that God will faithfully and unfailingly bless those who come to Him in sincerity.  Without question, the Lord ‘will repay.’  Those who pray insincerely and hypocritically will receive the world’s reward, and those who pray sincerely and humbly will receive God’s.”

 

            Lord willing, we will begin the last main section, “The Content of Prayer” and then begin to look at two sub-points under this main point in our next SD.  After that we will be taking a rather long journey through what is commonly called “The Lord’s Prayer” but in truth it is our prayer, the disciple’s prayer.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can remember some prayers that I have prayed that probably never got out of the room that I was praying in, and for that I am sorry.  Having an intimate fellowship with the God who made everything is a wonderful privilege that I truly want to be involved in.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust that the Lord will use me to have a wonderful affect on others as they look at the different Spiritual Diaries that are on my blog.  May God use them to bring glory to His Son.

 

10/27/2020 10:42 AM

 

 

           

PT-1 "The True Audience: God" (Matt. 6:6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/26/2020 9:29 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-1 “The True Audience:  God”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 6:6

 

            Message of the verse:  “6 "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”

 

            If I would ask you the question “What is the basic definition of prayer?”  What would your answer be?  When we are praying to God what we are doing is communicating with Him, we are in communion with God when we pray.  If God is not involved then there is no involvement there with Him, only pretense of prayer.  The Bible states that if a husband does not treat his wife right then God will not answer his prayers.  If we sin and then do not repent of our sin before God then we are out of fellowship with Him and He will not answer our prayers.  Begin each day with the words found in Psalm 139 23-24 “23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”  I really don’t want to go down a rabbit hole here but perhaps we should look at the preceding verses in this psalm. 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You. 19 O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. 20 For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain. 21 Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? 22 I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies.”  After these verses David asks God to search his heart to make sure that there is nothing between God and him.  By the way there was nothing wrong with what David was praying about as he was not really a schizophrenic.

 

            John MacArthur writes “Not only must He be involved, but centrally involved.  Prayer is God’s provision; it is God’s idea, not man’s.  There could be no prayer if God did not condescend to speak with us, and we could not know how to pray had He not chosen to instruct us.”

 

            What Jesus is teaching here is very simple and it is in contrast to the complicated and difficult traditions.  As we look at the phrase “when you pray” we see that this implies great latitude.  The Lord Jesus does not prescribe time or occasion when it comes to prayer.  MacArthur adds “The tameion (inner room) could be any sort of small room or chamber, even a storage closet.  Such rooms were often secret and used to store valued possessions for protection.  The idea is that on going to the most private place available.”

 

            We have already talked about the fact that Jesus does not forbid or even condemn public prayer.  1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:1-4).  Now what Jesus is doing here seems to be to make as great a contrast as possible to the practice of the scribes, Pharisees, and other hypocritical religionists.  Jesus’ primary point here is not talking about place but talking about attitude.  Jesus says that if it is necessary go to the most secluded, private place you can find, in order that you will not be tempted to show off.  He says go there and then “shut the door,” so that you will be alone with your Father, and then “pray to your Father.”  Do whatever necessary to be alone with God so that you can talk to Him.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Jesus is saying for me to be alone, for the most part, when I am praying to the Father, and this is something that is needed on my part to do a better job at.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Remember that I serve a God who forgives me of all of my sins, and to remember to confess any sins to the Lord so that I can have sweet fellowship with Him.

 

10/26/2020 10:03 AM

PT-5 "The Audience of Prayer" (Gen. 5:6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/25/2020 9:46 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-5 “The Audience of Prayer”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 6:5

 

            Message of the verse:  “5 "And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”

 

            It is my desire to finish this section this morning.  We need to perhaps be reminded that all sin begins in the heart, as Warren Wiersbe said “The problem with the heart is the heart of the problem.”  Inside the heart is pride and that is what these scribes and Pharisees had, and they are not alone with this issue.  MacArthur adds “Like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable, those hypocrites ended up praying to themselves (see Luke 18:11) and before other people. God had no part.”

 

            MacArthur states something that I have never heard of before:  “Some overly reactionary believers have used these warnings of Jesus as a reason to renounce all public prayer.  But the Lord taught no such thing.  He Himself often prayed in the presence of His disciples (Luke 11:1) and in public, as when He blessed food before feeding the multitudes (Matt. 14:19).  Scripture records many public prayers that were entirely appropriate and sincere.  At the dedication of the Temple, Solomon prayed an extended, detailed prayer before all the priests, Levites, and leaders of Israel (2 Chron. 6:1-42; cf. 5:2-7).  When, under Ezra’s leadership, the covenant was renewed after the Exile, a group of eight Levites offered a heartfelt, moving prayer of repentance before all the people (Neh. 9:5-38).  After Peter and John were arrested, questioned, and then released by the Sanhedrin shortly after Pentecost, the whole group of their companions rejoiced and ‘lifted their voices to God with one accord’ (Acts. 4:24).”

 

            Now just because this section does not prohibit public prayer as some think, that does not mean that all public prayer is not in some cases look or sound like the prayers of the scribes and the Pharisees.  Believers can have similar problems with the heart and pride that comes out of the heart.  I have mentioned that I have heard a very long prayer at the orientation of a Pastor, but also mentioned that even though it was very, very long it was a beautiful prayer. 

 

            Prayer is something that God wants us to do, to talk to Him detailing all of the issues that are going on in our hearts, to confess our sin and thus be in wonderful fellowship with Him.  After all He is our heavenly Father and cares for us more than we probably will ever realize, as He demonstrated that love for us by sending His One and only Son to take our place on the cross, to die in our place so that we can have eternal life.  Salvation is free, but it cost the Father His One and only Son, whom He would raise from the dead demonstrating that His sacrifice was sufficient for all who call on Him in repentance to receive salvation.  Yes prayer is so very important, especially that prayer that one prays to receive God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

 

10/25/2020 10:04 AM  

PT-4 "The Audience of Prayer" (Matt. 6:5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/24/2020 10:17 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-4 “The Audience of Prayer”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 6:5

 

            Message of the verse:  “5 "And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”

 

            We want to now look at some things from this verse that in and of themselves were not a problem with prayer, but the attitude is what we are looking at as we go through these different points.  The first one is “The hypocrites” loved “to stand and pray.”  As we look through Jewish history standing to pray was very normal, for in the OT we see God’s faithful praying while kneeling, while lying prostrate, and while standing.  However in the NT times standing was the most common position and did not necessarily indicate a desire to be noticed like what the Pharisees were doing.

 

            Next we look at “The Synagogues” and they were most appropriate and likely places for public prayers to be offered to God.  The Synagogues were the houses of worship and the reading of the Word of God and are still in existence today for Jewish people.  Many people lived too far away from the Temple to get there and so they prayed and worshiped at the Synagogues.  MacArthur adds “If done sincerely, prayer at any of those functions was appropriate.”  The functions he is talking about happened at the Synagogues.

 

            “ The Street corners” is the next place that we are going to talk about and one my first of all think that this was an odd place to have prayer, however because a devout Jew would stop wherever he was at the appointed time of prayer, may would pray on the street corners.  MacArthur writes “But the word used here for ‘street’ is not the same as that in verse 2, which refers to a narrow street (rhume).  The word used here (plateia) refers to a wide, major street, and therefore to a major street corner, where a crowd was most likely to be.  The implied fault here is that the ‘hypocrites’ loved to pray where they would have the largest audience.  There was nothing wrong with praying at a major intersection if that was where you happened to be at the time for prayer.  But something was very much wrong if you planned to be there at prayer time for the specific purpose of praying where the most people could see you.”

 

            So what was the real evil that Jesus is talking about here?  Well it was the scribes and the Pharisees desire to display themselves “in order to be seen by men.”  As mentioned it was not wrong to pray in those places, but they happened to afford the largest audiences.  So therefore the places where the hypocrites preferred to pray was places where people would see them.

 

            Now we have one more short section to be able to wrap all this up and because it is the weekend we will wait to do this last short section tomorrow.

 

10/24/2020 10:35 AM

PT-3 "The Audience of Prayer" (Matthew 6:5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/23/2020 8:57 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-3 “The Audience of Prayer”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 6:5

 

            Message of the verse:  “5 "And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”

 

            I want to say first of all that this SD will not be too long, and then I want to say that it will be a quotation from John MacArthur’s commentary, as what he has to say in the section that we will be looking at, in my opinion is so very important.

 

            “It is that despicable fault that Jesus zeroes in on.  ‘And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites.’  Prayer that focuses on self is always hypocritical, because, by definition, the focus on every prayer should be on God.  As mentioned in the last chapter, the term hypocrite originally referred to actors who used large masks to portray the roles they were playing.  ‘Hypocrites’ are actors, pretenders, persons who play a role.  What they say and do does not represent what they themselves feel or believe but only the image they hope to create.

 

            “The hypocritical scribes and Pharisees prayed for the same purpose they did everything else—to attract attention and bring honor to themselves.  That was the essence of their ‘righteousness,’ which Jesus said had no part in His kingdom (5:20).

 

            “An old commentator observed that the greatest danger to religion is that the old self simply becomes religious.  The ‘hypocrites’ of whom Jesus speaks had convinced themselves that by performing certain religious acts, including various types of prayer, they became acceptable to God.  People today still deceive themselves into thinking they are Christians, when all they have done is dress their old nature in religious trappings.

 

            “Nothing is so sacred that Satan will not invade it.  In fact, the more sacred something is, the more he desires to profane it.  Surely few things pleas him more than to come between believers and their Lord in the sacred intimacy of prayer.  Sin will follow us into the very presence of God; and no sin is more powerful or destructive than pride.  In those moments when we would come before the Lord in worship and purity of heart, we may be tempted to worship ourselves.

 

            “Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes,

 

‘We tend to think of sin as we see it in rags and in gutters of life.  We look at a drunkard, poor fellow, and we say, there is sin.  But that is not the essence of sin.  To have a real picture and a true understanding of sin, you must look at some great saints, some usually devout and devoted man, look at him there on his knees in the very presence of God.  Even there self is intruding itself, and the temptation is for him to think about himself, to think pleasantly and pleasurably about himself and to really be worshiping himself rather than God.  That, not the other, is the true picture of sin.  The other is sin, of course, but there you do not see it at its acme, you do not see it in its essence.  Or to put it in another form, if you really want to understand something about the nature of Satan and his activities, the thing to do is not to go to the dregs or the gutters of life.  If you really want to know something about Satan, go away to that wilderness where our Lord spent forty days and forty nights.  That’s the true picture of Satan, where you see him tempting the very Son of God.’  (‘Studies in the Sermon on the Mount’) [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977], 2:22-23).

 

            “From what we know in the scriptural record, Jesus’ two most intense times of spiritual opposition were during His forty days of solitude in the wilderness and during His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night He was betrayed and arrested.  On both occasions He was alone praying to His Father.  It was in the most private and holy place of communion that Satan presented his strongest temptations before the Son of God.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my opinion that in the first part of this quotation that MacArthur was not saying that we should not be praying about things that are going on in our lives, but we are not to be like the Pharisee who in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector the Pharisee was telling God that he was not like that sinful tax collector, but went on to say all the things that he “did for the Lord.” 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  My prayers should bring glory to the Lord, and that is what I desire them to do.

 

10/23/2020 9:26 AM

 

 

 

PT-2 "The Audience of Prayer" (Matt. 6:5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/22/2020 10:33 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-2 “The Audience of Prayer”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Matthew 6:5

 

            Message of the verse:  “5 "And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”

 

            These ritual prayers that we spoke of yesterday could be given with three basic attitudes, and the first one would be sincerity, then indifference, or pride.  It was certainly all about the attitude of the worshiper those Jewish people who were right with the Lord, like Daniel was, used the time to worship and to glorify God.  They thought about the words of the prayer and they sincerely believed what they were praying to the Lord.  However others went through the words perfunctorily, as they mumbled the syllables as fast as possible in order to get done.  Then others, such as the scribes and the Pharisees, recited the prayers very meticulously as they made sure to enunciate every word and every syllable in a perfect way.  They had three times a day to put them self on the stage so others could look at them, and perhaps thought they were very spiritual.  This was the first fault, and now we will move onto the second as I promised we would in our last SD.

 

            MacArthur writes “The second fault that had crept into Jewish prayer life was the development of prescribed prayers for every object and every occasion.  There were prayers for light, darkness, fire, rain, the new moon, traveling, good news, bad news, and so on.  No doubt the original intent was to bring every aspect of life into the presence of God; but by making the prayers prescribed and formalized that purpose was undermined.”

 

            We have mentioned the third fault, and that was the practice of limiting prayer to specific times and also occasions.  Whenever a specific time came or situation arose then prayer was given, and this was done with no relation to genuine desire or need.  Again I can’t help but think of Peter walking on the water and then about to go under because of lack of faith and he cried out to the Lord “Lord save me.”  I have mentioned Daniel and he used these times as a reminder to open his heart to the Lord.  As we look at the early church, which made up of mostly Jews we see they used these three times to pray and I am sure that for the most of them it was a time of worship and to bring glory to the Lord.  The Lord must have really loved to see His children talk to Him in a meaningful way those three times a day.

 

            The fourth fault was in esteeming very long prayers, as the offer of these believed that a prayer’s sanctity and effectiveness were in direct proportion to its length.  In Mark 12:40 we see a warning from Jesus “for appearance’s sake offer long prayers.  Having a long prayer does not necessarily make it an insincere prayer, however a long public prayer lends itself to pretense, repetition, rote, and many other such dangers. I believe that the longest prayer that I have ever heard was done by a retired Pastor who is now with the Lord, and he was praying at a service where our youth Pastor at the time was being ordained.  The prayer was very meaningful, but also very long.

            We will now look at the fifth fault that was singled out be Jesus in Matthew 6:7, and this was that of meaningless repetitions, that patterned after those of pagan religions.  An example of this would be with the heathens confronting Elijah, or perhaps it was Elijah confronting the Baal worshipers as seen in 1 Kings 18.  These Baal worshipers would actually cut themselves and continue to cry out to their god and after a while Elijah kind of made fun of them wondering if Baal was sleeping or in the restroom. 

 

            The problem is that through the centuries the Jews had been influenced by such pagan practices as they often added adjective after adjective before God’s name in their prayers.  Apparently they were trying to outdo one another in mentioning His divine attributes.

 

            I will conclude with a paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary:  “By far the worst fault, however, was that of wanting to be seen and heard by other people, especially their fellow Jews.  Most of the other faults were not necessarily wrong in themselves, but were carried to extremes and used in meaningless ways.  But this fault was intrinsically evil, because it both came from and was intended to satisfy pride.  Whatever form they prayer may have taken the motive was sinful self-glory, the ultimate perversion of this sacred means of glorifying God (John 14:13).”

 

            Lord willing we will continue to look at this fault in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Learning more about prayer has been a welcome subject for me as I am learning the good things about my prayer life and some other things that I need to change.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Remember prayer is a privilege because I am communicating with the all powerful, all knowing God who desires me to talk to Him and a consistent basis.

 

10/22/2020 11:08 AM