Wednesday, October 28, 2020

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

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