WHAT IS PRAYER?
What Is Prayer?
Prayer is often misunderstood or misrepresented. It is commonplace after a tragedy is highlighted in the news media for many people (even irreligious) to send their "thoughts and prayers"--but what does that mean? Is prayer merely quieting myself and meditating while I think pleasant thoughts of comfort toward people? Does the Bible explain what prayer is--and is not?
Thankfully, we don't have to turn outwardly to new age gurus, or inwardly to our own wisdom to find the answer. Jesus Himself explains what prayer is, and how to pray, in Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse five: "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
Jesus gives us a 'do not', and a 'do'. This is clear instruction. The Pharisee--the Jewish religious leaders who outwardly were pious but inwardly were hypocrites--relished the notoriety that came with public prayer. They loved to be seen and noticed and given recognition by people who thought them spiritually mature. Jesus says that’s the only reward they’ll receive. Jesus isn’t denouncing public prayer, only the wrong motivation when praying publicly. If you are only praying to be noticed--only praying so that people exalt the prayer itself--then your prayer stayed in the room, hanging in the air with limited effect.
Jesus says instead, when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and make it a secret thing. When He says, “room”, Jesus is referring to a storeroom where treasures are kept. This is the place (not necessarily a static physical location) where we go and converse with God. Jesus didn’t say “if”, but “when”, implying this is a normative part of being a follower of God.
Martin Luther's barber on one occasion asked him "Dr. Luther, how do you pray?" and this was Luther's response to his barber:
“It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business in the morning and the last in the evening. Guard yourself against such false and deceitful thoughts that keep whispering: 'Wait a while. In an hour or so I will pray. I must finish this or that'. Thinking such thoughts we get away from prayer into other things that will hold us and involve us till the prayer of the day comes to naught.”
Prayer should be a habitual part of our lives--like brushing our teeth, putting on our socks, or checking our email. When troubles or something unexpected arises, we pray. But why bother praying if God is sovereign after all?
Jesus goes on to explain: "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 5:7-8).
The idea behind the phrase "many words" is the idea of vain repetition. The confused crowd in Acts 19 kept shouting "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians" for two straight hours. The prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18 were crying out to their false god for around twelve hours! Some rabbis taught that whomever prays the longest is the one who is truly heard. Notice that Jesus corrects this thinking by calling prayers like this "heaping up empty phrases". We don't have to wax eloquent or long in our prayers in order for God to hear us. John Bunyan said, "When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words than thy words without heart."
In fact--if you notice verse 8--Jesus seems to be implying that God our Father already knows what our prayer request is, even before we say it out loud. That means prayer is the remarkable notion that I can converse freely with God: free of condemnation and free of pretense and superficiality. He knows what I need before I ask Him. I can come boldly, honestly, humbly, with full transparency and not live in fear that I'm going to be ignored. Because of the finished work of Christ, the veil that separated me from God has been removed, and I now have free and full access as an adopted son.
Prayer was designed to be a real thing--a private thing. Jesus said in the same sermon, a few moments later in chapter 7:
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8).
The idea here is to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Like 1 Thessalonians 5 exhorts us, we are to “pray without ceasing”. This means that because of the finished work of Christ on our behalf, God has now invited us to spend time communing with Him, interceding for others, constantly coming to the fountain to receive mercy and grace in our times of need. We pray not because we've got to pray, but we get to pray.
