"And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil."
In today's lesson, Jesus taught His disciples, and thereby us, how to pray. As and example, He gave us what we now refer to as the "Lord's prayer".
In Matthew 6:5-8, relating to this same lesson, Jesus went further with His instructions: "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him."
In this quote, Jesus makes it very clear that His followers are NOT to pray in public. Yet today, in every "Christian" denomination, that I'm aware of, public prayer is invariably offered as a part of the regular "church" ritual, several times during a service.
Some attempt to defend this action by saying that Jesus was not so much giving prayer instruction, as much as He was ridiculing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. That is patently wrong! Jesus very clearly condemned public prayer in "church" when He said, "thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues". We all know a synagogue was, and still is, a Jewish "church".
The glorious part of today's lesson is what Jesus promised in the last part of the quote from Matthew 6, "your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him."
In today's lesson Jesus gave us a model around which we should mold our prayers. He also told us, in the Matthew account, exactly how and where we should pray to be effective with our prayers, so as to assure ourselves that we get the answer we desire. Jesus said: "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
The prayer of an individual believer is not to be heard by anyone other than the Father through the Son.~
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