In our daily meditations, we continue to examine what Jesus taught His disciples, as found in what is commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. The Lord goes on to speak about how to live free from hypocrisy and maximize one's rewards in the eternal kingdom:
5“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 others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6But 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. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:5-8, Emphasis added).
In this passage above, Jesus is not decrying public prayer, but rather, it is the motivation to be seen by man—the Lord uses a strong word—they love to pray to be noticed by others. They will receive their reward, but their valid reward is not from God; instead, it stems from their desire to influence men. The man rewarded by God hides his prayer life from others. Prayer can be performed by rote, causing the heart to be removed from the sincerity and transparency that influence God. There are those today in every culture who believe that God answers prayers based on how many times they are repeated. However, how often is your spouse influenced by requests that are mindlessly repeated? Can you imagine attempting to influence people with numerous requests? Why do we think the Holy God, who knows all and sees all, can be influenced by rote, heartless prayer? The Lord reminds us that He knows what you need before you even take the time to ask Him (v. 8). Brothers and sisters in the Lord, we are almost certainly praying to ourselves when we pray without having our hearts in it.
In my ministry of teaching small group leaders, I have often taught people to pray publicly by modeling one-sentence prayers. This approach helps prevent prayers from becoming overly focused on elaborate language intended to impress those in the room. The desire to appear good to others and impress people with our vocabulary holds no weight in the eyes of God. I remember vividly the time we invited a young, newly converted couple to dinner at our home. They were so grateful that we asked them to dinner that they wanted to return the favor. When we arrived at their home, they had taken great care to clean and prepare a beautiful meal. Just as we had modeled to them, they waited until the food was served before asking me to pray and bless the meal. I responded that, in England, it is customary for the host to offer a prayer of thanks and bless the food. The young man gulped and went for it, stating, "Thank you, God, for our friends and this food," and with another gulp, he added, "And…See you Sunday." I truly believe that God was blessed by that prayer. A heartfelt, sincere prayer touches God's heart more deeply than an eloquent one.
The Lord qualifies His words on prayer by giving us an example of prayer:
9“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10your kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us today our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ 14For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins (Matthew 6:9-15).
What is commonly referred to as the “Lord’s Prayer” is not a prayer that Jesus would pray. After all, He never had to pray for God to forgive His sins (John 8:46). It should be called the “Disciples’ Prayer,” and even then, I believe it was not intended as a rote prayer to be recited repeatedly, but rather as a model prayer. While it is undoubtedly acceptable to pray using the exact words, we should understand that any prayer we offer to God should be based on the principles of this model prayer. Jesus began the model prayer by directing our hearts heavenward, addressing God with the very intimate term "Father." This approach to God was uncommon at the time. God was referred to as the Father of the nation of Israel, but He had never been called by this name in a personal manner. Many Christians have become so accustomed to it that we do not recognize how shocking this concept is to individuals from different cultures who have always viewed God as distant. It is a good time to pause what you are doing and reflect on the reality that, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, God is your Loving Father. Keith Thomas.
This meditation is from the complete study found at the following link: https://www.groupbiblestudy.com/engsermon/4.-the-heavenly-rewards-of-the-believer