Matthew 6:5-8
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
(Today’s sermon outline comes from a colleague of mine, Pastor Peter Ahn, who serves a Covenant Church in New Jersey.)
As one half of a married couple I have become aware, over the years, of the important issue of really listening to my partner. Often my inability to listen…to hear correctly….is the source of misunderstandings and hurt feelings. I either haven’t been concentrating while listening…or I’ve listened but not really heard or understood.
If we are to have a deep, meaningful, relationship with someone, we need to really listen, to really hear. Could that be true in our relationship with God as well?
Do we approach God in prayer, and end up doing all the talking? Is our prayer just a long list of things we’re worried about….or things we need?
In the very first sermon about prayer in this series, we learned – and in fact we emphasized the fact that there is NO ONE CORRECT way to pray. God loves us – He does not mind if we tell him all the things we want, just like a small child telling their parents all the things they want for Christmas. God is so patient and just loves the fact that we’re praying at all.
But I also said in that first sermon that our prayers may change….as our faith grows. As our faith matures we may find that we are more and more longing to HEAR from God – to hear his voice – and not just fill the time with our own voice telling God what we want or need.
If it’s going to be a real relationship, then it will need to be a conversation – back and forth – not just me reciting words. In short we need to learn how to pray…. In order to HEAR God.
How do we do that?
Matthew 6:5-6
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
How do we pray…in order to hear from God? First, when we pray, we make prayer about God, and NOT about ourselves.
- In this passage the leaders and hypocrites were praying but it was all about themselves – doing it so that they could be seen, doing it so that they could be heard, doing it so that they could be respected. It was all for their glory….and not about God’s glory. And God says that when we pray that way, we have already received our reward.
- Now of course, corporate prayer is not wrong…but prayer that is about our glory is not helpful in hearing God’s voice.
In continuing verses (Matthew 6:9-10) we see Jesus teaching his disciples to pray in these words:
“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’”.
All about God, and not about me!
If we want to hear God’s voice, we must make our prayers about God.
How do we pray in order to hear God? Secondly, we need to be willing to embrace Silence.
Again, from our text for today, Matthew 6:7-8 “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
God already knows everything we need. We don’t need to keep telling him. He is inviting us to be silent before Him.
Mark 1:35 – Jesus himself goes out in the morning to a quiet place, a lonely place in order to be silent before his heavenly father.
In my earlier example – just as I need to stop talking, and give complete attention to my wife, in order to really hear her, we need to stop “babbling” in our prayers, and become silent before God, telling him that we are listening.
But silence is hard isn’t it? Our minds quickly move to other topics and thoughts.
Why is practicing silence so important?
- Silence allows us to let go – to surrender our will to God’s will. It allows us to let go of control, let go of our fears. Most of our prayers come from a place of fear and anxiety. Becoming perfectly silent helps us recognize that…and begin to move toward trust.
- In Silence, we let go of our agendas / our plans – we allow communion with God (our relationship with God) to be the focus of our prayer….and not what we can GET from God. We seek His Face, rather than His Hand. We want Him, and not what He can Do for us.
- In Silence we shut our mouths…. and more fully open our hearts to HEAR God’s voice.
So in summary, how do we practice prayer….in order that we may more clearly hear God’s voice?
- By Making God the center of our prayer – His glory, not ours; His will, not ours
- By Embracing Silence
- Surrendering our will, control, and fears
- Letting go of agendas and plans, and making communion with God the goal
- Opening ourselves to HEAR.
Perhaps you could start with a very short and simple rhythm of praying silently for 3 minutes a day? It will take practice before we are easily able to sit still and listen for that long! We may need to choose a special word (like “Jesus”, or “trusting”) , or a key image or phrase (like “speak, for your servant is listening”, or “God, I give you my anxieties”)… in order to help us stick to our listening…and not wander off to our daydreaming!
Remember, there is no wrong way to pray. God will meet us where we are. And maybe, just maybe…we’ll actually start looking forward, and expecting – to regularly hear from God!
(the above is a summary of the message shared in worship on May 5, 2024.)
Japanese Congregational Church 