Monday, September 15, 2025
Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him. Matthew 6:5-8
How Not To Pray
Communication is a vital part of any relationship. When we become followers of Jesus and begin to grow in our relationship with him, communication with him through prayer is essential. Prayer is a personal conversation with a holy and loving God that reorients our reality and makes all things possible.
Prayer is a direct line to God. We have access to the throne of God – an invitation to enter into his presence and commune with him. It is communication with the maker and his creation, and he longs to have this time with us. It is a time to connect with him, face to face, with everything else striped away – no pretense between us and holy God.
In Matthew 6:9-13 Jesus gives us an example of how to pray in a way that will help us. This text is referred to as The Lord’s Prayer, and yesterday Pastor Jim began a new series on this passage of scripture. Our key truth for this series is, “To pray like Jesus prayed is to see like Jesus saw, trust like Jesus trusted, and live like Jesus lived.” In the verses 5-9a, Jesus begins with warning against how we are not to pray.
What warnings does Jesus give us about prayer that will provide a foundation to learn to pray effectively?
We are not to pray like pretenders… Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. vs 6
In verse 5 we can see that Jesus expects us to pray. Jesus says Whenever you pray… which clearly communicates that prayer is expected by Jesus. He goes on to tell them not to pray like hypocrites. Hypocrites are pretenders who pray to be seen. They pretend to be one thing publicly but live a different way privately.
Hypocrites focus on themselves, not God, performing and speaking words to bring attention to themselves. They pray for the attention of men and not the attention of God, and in doing so they miss the attention of God altogether. They pray for praise from men and that is their reward. There is no reward in heaven for them.
This kind of prayer removes God from the throne of our hearts and replaces it with ourselves. We seek our own elevation above a true conversation with God. Even if we could package this prayer to sound like we are authentically seeking a true conversation with God, he sees our hearts and knows our motivations.
We are not to pray like pagans… When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him. vs 7-8
Next, Jesus tells us not to pray like pagans who think they need to say many words, even repeating them over and over, to be heard. They thought saying things in a certain way order that God would hear them.
We don’t pray to tell God things that He didn’t know before we told Him because he knows all things. We pray to commune with and call upon to a loving God who wants us to bring every need and worry before His throne because he cares about those needs and worries we have.
What can we take away from these verses? Prayer is not a performance, and it is not to be recited in a special order. We are praying to a Father who loves us and really cares for us. He knows us and already knows what we need before we even ask.
How is your prayer life? Are you having regular, authentic conversations with God?
If not, what needs to change so that you can make room in your life for time spent with him?
