His Way

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.

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. Pray then like this:  

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 6:5-15

     Here is a reminder from the Lord Himself on prayer. He begins by reminding us not to pray for our own honor and glory--that is, to watch that it is not ourselves we are worshiping with our prayers, but our God. He is not saying that all public forms of prayer are shameful, but only that which draws admiration to the Great Man of Prayer and away from the Great God Who Answers. For if we have intentionally drawn praise from our fellowmen for our eloquent and elaborate prayers, Jesus says that we have received the reward due us already. We have received the fragile and fleeting praise of men. Oh, how just our reward!

     He goes on to say that we must not "heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words."  The phrase translated "do not heap up empty phrases," is in transliterated Greek, "me battologeo," which has a literal meaning something like, "do not babble" or "babble not." So there is a pointlessness to senseless prattling or any use of the tongue absent of thought for the syllables it is pronouncing.

     So then, how should we pray? Jesus says like this:

     "Our Father in heaven. . .:"  recognizing You intimately as a loving Father, yet as different from us as heaven is from the earth.
 
     ". . .hallowed be your name. . . " for Yours is the Name above all names. We worship and adore You, desiring Your glory, honor, and praise and standing in awe of Your holiness.

     ". . . Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth at is is in heaven. . . " Longing for the advent of Your Kingdom here on earth, we are ever yearning for that Day where Your perfect will holds sway in the hearts of all people just as it does among the "living creatures" who eternally praise You on Your throne (see Revelation 4:8).

     ". . .  Give us this day our daily bread. . . " For You are our Provider and our trust is fully and completely in You. We need food to nourish our bodies and the Bread of Life to nourish our souls, however we do not need to fret but rather we trust You to meet each need that we have as it arises. If our needs do not seem to be met, then we can be assured that either they are not needs after all or that You, our Father, are meeting some more substantial eternal need that our finite, physical minds will be unable to grasp until that Day when we finally see face to face (see 1 Corinthians 13:12).

     ". . . and forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors. . . "  Because of the overwhelming recognition that You have forgiven us a greater debt in our sins against You than any person could feasibly incur against us, we have forgiven everything that anyone has done against us absolutely, letting it go and eradicating any traces of resentment or bitterness.

     ". . . And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."  We know, Father, that without Your perfect wisdom and guidance, we will stray like so many careless sheep. We rely fully on You to guide us around the many snares and pitfalls the enemy of our souls has set against us, for we are simpleminded and easily taken in by his schemes. When we do take our eyes off You and wander from the narrow path You are leading us on, we need Your power to liberate us from the evil that is born of our own desires (see James 1:14-15).

     Jesus sums this all up by once again stressing the importance of forgiveness with a very clear and unmistakable warning. Talk about a sobering realization for a heart full of resentment!  We can hedge around and justify ourselves all we wish, but the words of Christ are very plain here. We can expect to be forgiven to the precise measure we offer forgiveness. There is no simpler way to put it. The fact that He mentions it twice indicates the importance of that particular point. He really means it, so let us choose to be engulfed by gratitude for His forgiveness and to cancel all debts against us in return.

     Ultimately, as His followers we have a choice. Take Him at his word and surrender everything within us to His will, or nurse our twisted little grievances and so dishonor the work He did as propitiation for us all. We either renounce our will for His, holding the Father as holy and concerning ourselves fully with the work of His kingdom and obedience as to our place in it, or we choose to remain in shameful nakedness, spurning the proffered mantle of righteousness in Christ. We trust Him for provision--even for the ability to forgive--or we choose to lean on our own brittle understanding. We accept His purely wise counsel and government, or we reject them and follow our depraved and deceitful hearts. We allow ourselves to be delivered from evil, or we allow ourselves to be consumed by it.

     God our Father, graciously You have offered freedom and a restored relationship with You, and for that we bow our hearts in worship and in thanksgiving. You are God and King, mighty in power and holy by nature. Cause our hearts to adore You above all things, and help us to let go of worldly pursuits and cling to You instead. May we not accept Your forgiveness and love merely to revel in it, but so that we may pour it out onto others as a thank offering to You. May Your will be done on earth beginning in our hearts and working outward from there as we learn complete obedience and utter surrender to You. Expand Your Kingdom and come quickly, Lord Jesus, that all of the earth may be freed from this bondage to corruption. Protect Your people from evil and so sanctify our hearts that temptation falls to the wayside because of our great love for our King. May we not fall back into depravity but rather stand firm in the freedom that You have already done Your great work to deliver us into. Let it be so, Lord, even to the weakest of us, Your children.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV^® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.