What You Are to Do - Pray

“Praying is talking to God about what we are doing together.”

Dallas Willard

"Prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy."St. Therese of Lisieux

I enjoy children. After spending time with children, you discover that they can be both simple and complex; sometimes, a child can understand the complexity of simple things in a way that adults miss. Years ago, I was part of a Christian education program that used memory verses to guide their curriculum goals. The Preschoolers learned about and memorized “God is Love.” Holding on to that simple complexity is helpful as we move into the next section of the Sermon on the Mount.

Through the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us striking contrasts. In chapter 6, he begins with warnings based on temptations his followers will encounter. They will give to the needy, pray, fast, and need to learn how to deal with money. Jesus shows them that there are two ways to do it. I will focus on his teaching on prayer. It comes at almost the exact center of the Sermon. Prayer is at the heart of the Sermon on the Mount and our lives. It is one of the most important things to hear from Jesus and do.

When talking about prayer, Jesus contrasts the prayers of the hypocrites (how not to pray) with genuine prayers (how to pray). This contrast comes in the form of a warning. As we have learned, it is important not to turn the warnings into a command. Jesus' message is more complex.

Jesus warns, “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corner so that they may be seen by others.” (v.5). The warning deals with how you pray. Are you praying to be seen by others? Are you trying to impress others with your prayers? This is what the hypocrites do.

Jesus continues, “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard because of many words.” (v.7). The warning is not about how long your prayers are but about what you try to do with your words. Are you trying to flatter yourself or God? Are you trying to influence God with many words? Jesus himself prayed long prayers and sometimes used many words. (1)

So, how are we to pray? Instead of seeking attention, approval, or the esteem of others, we can engage with God and wholeheartedly focus on Him. You do this when you go to your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father. (v.6) This is what you do when you trust in God, who knows you and understands what you need even before you ask (v.8)

Notice that the hypocrites are praying. Jesus is asking for a different kind of prayer. He shows us how to pray by giving us the Lord’s Prayer (v.9-13). It is a beautiful prayer that can be challenging because it is so familiar. One teacher writes,” It is the foundation of the praying life…You only move beyond it provided you stay with it.” (2) Let’s take a fresh look at it.

A big picture view shows us that the first half of the prayer is all about God: Our Father, Your name, Your kingdom, Your will. We need to recall that God is love. I love the way Jesus begins the prayer. Think about this for a moment. Imagine yourself with Jesus, and he says, “Pray this way. Our Father.” Jesus is sharing his Father with us! His Father is our Father. In one of his prayers, Jesus prays for us, saying, “Father, love them even as you love me.” (3)

We begin praying with Jesus, addressing God personally as our Father. A family relationship is based on who you are - family, not what you do. We also share our Father in heaven with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We not only pray to a personal God but a holy God. We pray, “Hallowed by your name.” God is both near as our Father and holy, distinct, and beyond us. As we begin to pray, we come with reverence and awe.

Our place is in his kingdom. We learn about God’s kingdom from Jesus when he addresses Pilate on trial, saying, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If it were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” (4)

To pray for God’s kingdom to come is to enter into life with Jesus. Remember, Jesus began his ministry by announcing, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:17). His kingdom is not of the world, but it is for the world. As its king, he went to the cross and beyond to save us.

What is our response? We pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” God’s rule in our lives also involves surrendering to his ways. Dallas Willard paraphrases it this way, “May your rule be completed in us, may your will be done here on earth in just the way it is done in heaven.” (2) Praying Jesus’ prayer helps us desire what God desires.

There is a wonderful example of how to share our love in the movie Groundhog Day. (5) The main character has to live the same day over and over. During this time, he falls in love with a woman. Because he lives the same day over and over, he has spent years getting to know her, but she does not realize it. At one point, he wants to tell her how much he loves her, and he says: “You like boats but not the ocean—you like a lake in summers in the mountains. You’re a sucker for French poetry and rhinestones. You’re very generous. You’re kind to strangers and children. And when you stand in the snow, you look like an angel.” He does not only tell her he loves her; he tells her what he loves about her. This is how to begin praying the Lord’s Prayer. We get to know God more and more over time, and then we tell God what we love about Him.

Only after we have spent time drawing near God and seeking him and his ways do we turn to thoughts of ourselves. The first thing we ask for is God. We know that God is our Father and wants to hear our thoughts, concerns, and needs because he loves us. In teaching on prayer,  Paul tells us to pray about everything - telling God what you need and thank him for all he has done. (6) Our next prayer is to ask God to be with us and "give us our daily bread.” We need help daily and can only rightly handle what is for today.

We invite God into our relationships, praying, “Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.” You may use the word trespasses. Matthew uses the word debts. Luke uses the word sin. They all point out that we need help as we live and work together. Sin is the word we use to understand what is wrong with us and the world. We pray to God, asking for forgiveness for our sins and help to forgive others because we all sin and fall short. (Rom 3:23)

We ask that God prepare us for what may come - temptation and evil. N.T. Wright translates this: “Prepare and preserve us for whatever comes next.” Dallas Willard paraphrases it: “Please do not put us through trials, but deliver us from everything bad. Because you are the one in charge, and you have all the power, and the glory too is all yours - forever - which is just the way we want it!” (2)

“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you…your love is better than life.”

Ps 63:1,3

This is how we are to pray.

If you want to go deeper:

1. Read Matthew 6: 1-24

2. Pray the Lord’s prayer slowly. Take a phrase and stick with it - “Our Father in heaven.” Think about it, meditate on it, and let its meaning deepen. Stay with it for as long as you need to before moving on. Live in the prayer.

   
   

3. . Read and pray through Psalm 63: 1-8

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1. Matthew 14:23-25, John 17

2. Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy.

3. John 17:23

4. John18:36

5. Tim Keller uses this movie to show how we can praise God.

6. Phil 4:6