Therefore do not be like them. For your
Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
Leading a group of people in corporate
prayer often reveals a lack of understanding of the attributes of God which may
be one reason why people are reluctant to lead in prayer. Prayer is really not
about being eloquent and sounding spiritual as if we could call down fire from
heaven.
This may be stating the obvious, but if
we are to be holy as God is holy, if we are to have the mind of Christ, we must
understand who He is, what He is like, and how He operates via the Word of God;
it is getting down to the nitty-gritty of reading, studying, and applying. As
Wiersbe used to say, “Learn the Word, love the Word, live the Word.”
From the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was not
discouraging prayer because the Father is all-knowing, but vain repetitions
like the heathen (v7) were unnecessary for we have the Father’s attention the
moment we pray in faith! Isn’t that so cool! We are commanded not to be like
the pagans – “Do not be like them,” which is uncool.
Often in our prayers we force God’s name
into every sentence or use His name as a filler word, like “uh,” making it
meaningless or vain (cf. Ex 20:7). Jesus gave us a pattern of prayer in Mt
6:9-13. The word “Father” is mentioned once in the beginning. Now, there are a
lot of pronouns, but that is the way we naturally talk. This does not
imply that we are to only use God’s name once in our prayers. But it may
suggest that overusing His name is unnecessary and unnatural as it is in a
normal conversation with others.
Imagine talking with a friend, and in
the course of two minutes; you heard your name mentioned 20 times or more. It
would strike you as odd, forced, and distracting. Once I listened to a precious
and friendly soul leading a group in prayer using the Father’s name over 17
times in less than two minutes. After mentioning God several times in the first
ten seconds, I went from praying to counting! I was surprised because he never objected to praying in public and had a lot of years as a Christian under his
belt.
We need to relax, breathe normally, and
“normalize” our praying. We need to converse with God naturally and genuinely
with respect. We are not always going to get our words right in prayer; God
knows this; we all know this (cf. Rom 8:26-27)! Did you know that Jesus used
repetition in His prayers but in the right way in the right amount (Mt
26:44)?
It is unnecessary, however, to tag every
single prayer request with “God, Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, or Lord.” God loves
to hear from us, and we should consider it a high privilege to come before His
presence or to lead others to the throne of grace. And we shouldn’t be too hard
on public prayers because “public speaking” can be very intimidating.
Truthfully, I don’t like praying in front of others; I get nervous and fidgety,
too! But the point is that we should be growing in our prayer life. Prayer
grows with faith.
Here is some theological straight talk
that applies to all saints, young or old that might help us feel better about
praying. Do you know why the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:26) and Jesus (Rom 8:34; Heb
7:25) continually intercede for us in the presence of God? They do this for us
because you and I are ignorant when it comes to what to pray for and how to
voice those requests to the Father!
How does that make us feel better?! Our
prayers are not rejected right out of the mouth-gate because it has issues. We
may or may not be on target and fumble all over the place with our thoughts and
words. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit know the mind of
each other, and this is the value of the intercessory work of Jesus Christ and
the Holy Spirit on our behalf.
So, continue to send ‘em up for
yourselves and for others in private and in the presence of others. Granted,
it’s not easy talking to the Invisible in front of others unless we make Him
visible in our faith daily. Dressing up your prayers is a natural byproduct as
we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; our
Intercessors will do the rest. Though God is all-knowing, we are still to pray
even though we have Intercessors, we are still to learn to pray according to
God’s will. <><
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