Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Short Intro to Matt. 6:5-8

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/20/2020 10:59 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  “Short Introduction to Matt. 6:5-8”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 6:5-8

 

            Message of the verses:  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. 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. 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.”

 

            As you can see by the verses we will be spending a number of days looking at prayer, and what Jesus has to say about it.  I have to say that in our finite minds that probably none of us can comprehend exactly how prayer functions within the infinite mind and plan of God.  In our past SD’s we have mentioned things about the “Calvinistic” and in their view they emphasize God’s sovereignty, and in its extreme application holds that God will work according to His perfect will regardless of what men pray or even whether they pray or not.  MacArthur adds “Prayer is nothing more than turning in to God’s will.  At the opposite extreme, the Arminian view holds that God’s actions pertaining to us are determined largely on the basis of God regarding what He has already determined to do, and on the other it is beseeching God to do what He otherwise would not do.”

 

            We have already talked about the tension that Scripture has in regard to the salvation of souls, and it is the same here.  The Scriptures teach both views, just as it holds both views in God’s plan for salvation of men.  MacArthur adds “The Bible is unequivocal about God’s absolute sovereignty.  But it is equally unequivocal in declaring that within His sovereignty God calls on His people to beseech Him in prayer—to implore His help in guidance, provision, protection, mercy, forgiveness, and countless other needs.”

 

            As stated earlier it is not possible to fathom the divine working that makes prayer effective.  All we know is that God commands us to pray, to obey the principles of prayer that are found in His Word.  As we begin to look at this section we will find  our Lord’s teaching on some of those principles.

 

            MacArthur concludes “Jesus continues His contrast of true and false righteousness, in particular the false righteousness typified by the scribes and Pharisees.  As 6:2-4 expose their exposes their hypocritical giving and verses 16-18 their hypocritical fasting, verses 5-8 expose their equally hypocritical praying.  The prayers were defective in their intended audience and in their content.”

 

            While walking on my treadmill yesterday I listened to the sermon from MacArthur that goes along with what we will be looking at in this section and I came across a story that in some ways is humorous and so I thought that  I would pass it along in this SD.

 “Some time ago I was reading James Boice’s comments on this particular problem and he told an interesting story. He said, at one point in the course of their very influential ministries, George Whitfield, who was a Calvinistic evangelist and John Wesley, the Arminian Evangelist, were preaching together and rooming together in the same boarding house. One evening after a particularly strenuous day the two of them returned to the boarding house exhausted and prepared for bed. When they were ready, each knelt beside the bed to pray.

“Whitfield, the Calvinist, prayed like this. “Lord, we thank thee for all those with whom we spoke today and we rejoice that their lives and destinies are entirely in thy hand. Honor our efforts according to thy perfect will. Amen.” After that prayer, Whitfield rose from his knees and got into bed. Wesley who had hardly gotten pass the invocation of his prayer in that length of time looked up from the side of the bed and said, “Mr. Whitfield, is this where your Calvinism leads you?” Then he put his head down and went on praying. Whitfield stayed in bed and went to sleep.

“About two hours later, Whitfield woke up and there was Wesley still on his knees beside the bed, sound asleep. Whitfield shook him by the shoulder and said to him, “Mr. Wesley, is this where your Arminianism leads you?” The greatest of men could never resolve the divine mystery of how a human prayer moves an omnipotent, divine arm.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I know that in some ways that prayer is a mystery, but my thoughts are that if God desires me to pray then I have to believe that it is a privilege for me to pray to the very God of the universe, the God who spoke and all came into existence.  Prayer is very, very important to me and I am thankful that God desires me to pray.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Living in the times that I live in today, in a country that seems to be so much going against God, it is my desire to do a better job in my prayer life.  Warren Wiersbe states that when we pray without ceasing it means that we keep the phone off the hook at all times ready to talk to the Lord.

 

10/20/2020 11:26 AM

 

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