Why we Pray? (EQUALS) How we Pray?

Verses:  Matthew 6:5-15

My thoughts about the verses:

Why do we pray?  Do we pray because we want people to see us pray and go there is a good Christian?  Do we pray because God deserves praises for the things that happen in our life?  Do we pray because we want to ask God to help us in our time of need?  Do we pray because of the group of people we are with?  Do we pray because we feel led by our heart?  Do we pray because we feel led to because of our way of thinking?

Think about this a moment the reason we pray does affect how we pray.  We pray for so many different reasons and how we pray reflects this.  Our prayers are so different depending on the situation.  Our thoughts and mind will reflect what we are thinking about at the time of our prayer.  We need to think about this when we pray to God.

The easiest two examples to understand this phenomenon of why we pray leading to how we pray are praise and prayer request to God.  Let us start by first looking at when we pray to God to thanking God for all of our blessings.  Our prayers will be one of thankfulness.  We will pray not asking God for anything instead we will pray to God because of the joy that is in our life.  We will feel led by our Spirit to lift up our voice in prayer.  This type of prayer can be considered an opening of our heart to rejoice with God for the wholeness that we will feel at this moment.

The second thing we want to look at is prayer request.  We have times in our lives in which things seem to be overwhelming.  We do not know how to solve the problem ourselves.  We then realize that the only thing that we can do is go to God.  We ask God to help us with the situation.  We ask for God to heal our bodies, souls and minds.  We often even ask others to pray for us.  We feel humbled because we need God.  Our prayers often include praises because we feel that we need to thank God for answered prayers.  We feel led to give over all of our issues and in the process we feel a spiritual healing.

Looking at these two examples we can see that our reason for prayer explains the difference in how we pray.  Yet, even though it is easy to understand this we have to look at something that Jesus talked about and that is when to pray.  God says it is best to pray in secret.  We are encouraged to go to God not because we want to be seen, but because we want to worship God through our prayers.  Yet, how many of us are tempted to pray where others can see us.  Are there times that praying in public is the right thing to do.  We can probably say that we have all done both of these things.

Let us start with prayer when it is done in public at the right time.  Let us look at this closer have you ever been out in public and felt the need to pray for someone you are with.  In those moments, you feel this overwhelming need just to surround the person with prayer.  I believe that one of the gifts that God has given me is the gift to pray for others.  Often times I feel this overcoming need to offer prayer at that moment.  When I have that feeling I either pray for them by myself or I ask if I can pray with them.  It isn’t that I am trying to be seen it is a deep spiritual calling.  I feel that this is why some prayers are not inappropriate in the public.

Yet, there are more examples of prayer that are done in public.  Churches spend a lot of time in prayer.  When we think of these prayers we see them as the Church calling the Spirit into the presence of all those gathered.  These prayers are a time that the Church as a whole can offer praise and prayers to God.  It isn’t a time when people are just proving that they are Christians.  It is the opposite.  The prayers are a way of showing how much God loves us and provides for us daily.  It isn’t because we want people to know we are Christians it is so we can walk closer to God as a body of Christ.

Yet, there are those times that we catch ourselves praying in public to be seen.  We talk about the fact that we are Christians and want others to see it.  We then prove it by praying in public.  This is similar to what the Sadducees and Pharisees did.  They would walk out in public and pray so that people could see them.  They acted like they were pious Jews when in fact they were doing it for the attention they got.  It made people think that they were better Jews than they were.  People wanted to be like them so the display of praying had spread.  Many people had taken up prayers in public. 

Yet, what they were really missing was the fact that why they were praying was wrong.  They needed to pray to be in commune with God.  Instead they were praying for attention.  We have to remember anytime that we pray that if we are doing it for attention we are not praying when we should be praying.  We need to pray so that we are in commune with God.  Opening our lives up to the one up above instead of praying so people think we are better Christians.

Prayer:

We praise you God.  We thank you for all the prayers you answer daily in our life.  We thank you for the blessings that you give to all of us.  Help us sty focused on you.  Help us to always remember that we are to use prayer as a time to be with you instead of a time for others to see us.  Help us pray to you throughout our life.  Help us be the Christian you call us to be.  In the name of the Almighty we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Why do you pray?  How do you pray?  Are you praying for the right reasons?  Are you praying for people to see you?  Are you praying so that you can be in commune with God?