“Be careful NOT TO PERFORM YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS before men TO BE SEEN by them. If you do, you will HAVE NO REWARD from your Father in heaven….” Matthew 6: 1 BSB (Emphasis mine)
There are two major categories of prayer. These are personal and corporate prayers. The personal prayer is when an individual petitions and/or thank God. Whiles the corporate prayer involves a family, community, organization or the nation presenting their petitions and/or thanksgiving.
Whenever we pray rightly, we receive our undeniable rewards in the form of answered prayers or a blessing for expressing our gratitude to God. Therefore, it is expedient to know how to pray the right way for a guaranteed result. Before the advent of Jesus, people were praying in the Old Testament but not all prayers were being answered just like our dispensation. Everybody is qualified to pray but not everyone’s prayer gets answered. Except those who pray rightly gets the results whether they are personal or corporate. That was why Jesus saw the need and decided to teach us how to pray.
Let us consider Matthew 6:5-6 as we analyze the preliminary outline for prayer.
“And when you pray, DO NOT BE LIKE THE HYPOCRITES (public attention seekers). For they love to pray STANDING IN THE SYNAGOGUES AND ON THE STREET CORNERS (publicly) to be SEEN BY MEN (the public). Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. But when you pray, GO INTO YOUR INNER ROOM, SHUT YOUR DOOR, (secretly) and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will REWARD YOU…” BSB (Emphasis & Insertion mine).
The above scripture suggests that; first of all, we must check our motive for the prayer whether it is God’s attention we seek or public applauds. Secondly, we must also consider the location. Sometimes our motives and locations may be right but the manner in which we conduct the prayers can also impede our prayers. For instance, we may genuinely want to pray, go into solitary yet we pray aloud to the hearing of others. Although we were in our closet, but our prayer is in public.
Notwithstanding, we can also be in public places with the right motive pray effectively to get results, depending on the manner we conducted the prayer. For instance, we may find ourselves in a market, in a bus or on an aircraft with the desire to pray. We can silently pray in our hearts or minds without necessarily opening our mouths for the next person to hear. Remember it is God we are praying to; He sees and hears in the secret as well.
One may say, “I am a Pentecostal or a Charismatic, we love to pray aloud and that is what make us feel good!” As a matter of fact, it is not the loudness that makes the prayer effective, it is rather the condition of our hearts and the content of the petition in relation to God’s will. Also, we don’t pray just to feel good, rather it is mandatory to regularly talk to our Father in heaven in order to deepen our relationship with Him.
Beloved, its about time we rectify these lapses in our prayer life and begin to enjoy the fruits of our labour in prayer. Prayer is not optional, that is why we need to know and understand its importance. In closing let us meditate on the words of Jesus in Luke 18:1 as we continue tomorrow.
“Now Jesus was telling the disciples a parable to make the point that AT ALL TIMES THEY OUGHT TO PRAY AND NOT GIVE UP AND LOSE HEART…” Amp. (Emphasis mine)
PRAY WITH ME
Lord Jesus, I thank you this day for my life. From this day forward, I have resolved in my heart to perform my righteous act of prayer in secrecy as I seek to please you. Holy Spirit, please guide me and help me to live this life of Kingdom righteousness. This I pray in the precious name of Jesus! Amen!Author: REV. SOLOMON LUTTERODT
