5"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8"Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9In this manner, therefore, 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 this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. |
14"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Just at the end of the last chapter we were talking about letting your light shine. Now in this chapter it talks about doing things in secret. The last chapter explains the many ways we are expected to be good and do good. This chapter started with explaining to do your good deeds in secret. The last chapter said to let others see the glory of God through you. This chapter says to pray to God in secret. How do you make sure others see the glory of God through you if you are doing everything in secret? They key is that we simply let our light shine, let the glory of God shine through you. We do not force it, but let it happen. Even if everything we do to glorify God is done in secret, His light will shine through us. This is much more beautiful than we could do openly, and then it is definitely done for the glory of God, and not for any personal satisfaction or recognition.
The easiest time to think of praying is when we need something. But God knows what we need even before we ask Him. So why do we need to pray? Just as any parent, child, spouse, or special friend who knows how the other person feels about them and knows what they need, still appreciates hearing those feeling expressed to them, I think God still wants to hear us express our feelings. Open continued communication is so important in any relationship, including our relationship with God. Putting our feelings into words not only helps us relate to Him how we feel, but also helps us to realize just what our feelings are.
There is more to prayer than asking for what we need. In this model prayer, we claim God as our Father and we are His children. As our Father, we honor Him. We bow to His wisdom in that we acknowledge that we want His will to be done. We count on Him in our daily needs. We ask for Him to forgive us as He is our ultimate judge. We ask for His protection as the devil's influence is all around us. We praise only Him as He has power over everything. And we give only Him all our glory for everything is His. Yes, God knows what we need even more than we do. But in praying to Him, we give Him the praise He deserves, we admit to ourselves that we need Him, we take our problems out of our control and put them under God's control, and we show our allegiance to only Him.
I was finding it interesting that the words "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is not more along the lines of "Help me do your will", or even "Help us to do your will". This prayer is not just praying for yourself. It is a prayer that God's will be done all over earth -- including those who do not know Him or would even think of praying to Him. This is a prayer you pray for everyone, not just yourself. Even the rest of the petitions say "us" instead of "me". God wants us to pray for everyone's good, not just our own wants and needs.
Jesus makes an extra point in the end regarding the importance of forgiving others. If we want our sins forgiven, we must also forgive others. I don't know what it is about our nature that makes us want to be judges of others. We are not very good at it. We can be such harsh judges. God, on the other hand, who is very good at judgment, is also much better at forgiveness than we are. He finds it much easier to forgive than we do. If we insist on harsh judgment of others, that same harsh judgment will be used against us. It would be in our best interest to show mercy and forgiveness so the same can be extended to us. We set the level of our own judgment! Looked at that way, it seems that we should make every possible effort to forgive others. It is what God commands of us, but it is also in our own best interest. We have under our own control what our final judgment may be!