As followers of Christ, we know we should pray as much as possible. Yet, oftentimes, the more we walk through this life, the more praying can feel like a duty, another thing to check off on our list, something we just “have to do.” But…what if prayer is actually a delight?
Matthew 6:5 (NIV) says, “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…” First we have to understand that in this verse Jesus is talking about the religious leaders of those times—here referred to as hypocrites—who stood in the public and prayed in front of the crowds. Of course, Jesus is not against praying in public, nor is He against praying with a group of people; Scripture is clear that He loves when we do both of those things. However, Jesus is against the wrong motive in a human heart. According to this verse, the hypocrites were praying with the purpose of being “seen by others.” They were praying in order to be noticed by people.
In my own life, I’ve had to reflect on my heart motives and ask for God’s help. There have been times I’ve been asked to pray in a group setting, and my thoughts immediately went to “What will they think of me? What words should I use? Will my voice sound good?” Instead of focusing on true prayer—simply having a relaxed and natural conversation with God—I focused all on myself. It can be easy to fear the opinions of others and, in doing so, miss the whole point of prayer. Galatians 1:10 (NIV) puts it this way: “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” This is not to make ourselves feel bad if we have fallen into this type of thinking, but rather to show us that God has a better way for us. We do not need to fear what others think of us because their opinions do not matter in comparison to what God says about us—that whether we fail or succeed, we are still accepted, approved, and loved by Him. There’s nothing we can do to make God love us more or less. As 1 John 4:19 says, He first loved us—not the other way around. Thus, when we are praying, all we need to do is believe and focus on Him. Everything else fades away as we fix our attention upon Him and get swept up in His presence.
This leads us to verse 6 in Matthew 6: “But 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.” Again, God is not against us praying in a group of people, but He also desires us to spend one-on-one time with Him. This is because each of us has our own relationship with Him, and we can only grow that personal relationship when we spend personal time with Him. Think of this: if you and a friend want to get closer to each other, but the only time you both hang out is with a group of people, there’s only so much you can grow in your relationship before it stagnates and stays in the same place. However, once you and that friend have some alone time, just the two of you, then the friendship is able to grow a lot more. It is the same with us and God. God designed us to need time together as the body of Christ and time alone with Him.
Jesus Himself purposefully stepped away from groups of people in order to have time with just Him and God, as seen in Matthew 14:23 and Mark 1:35. Luke 5:16 (AMP; emphasis added) even says, “But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray [in seclusion].” Jesus knew the importance of the secret place: spending one-on-one time with God, and doing so frequently. And this is what He emphasizes in Matthew 6:6. Of course, it is not about being secretive and hush-hush about prayer, because certainly God also says we are the light of the world, and our light (Christ in us) cannot be hidden (Matt. 5:14). But again, when we shine bright in front of others—like praying in front of people—it is not to draw attention to ourselves, but to draw people’s attention to who God is. It goes back to the motive of our hearts.
To wrap it all up, the last part of verse 6 talks about being rewarded by God when we choose to spend time alone with Him. Being a Christian, although full of many challenges, definitely has a lot of rewards and benefits as well. But certainly the greatest reward is Him—us being fully known by Him and getting to know Him for ourselves. Philippians 3:8 calls it the “surpassing worth” (NIV) or “infinite value” (NLT) of knowing Jesus more deeply, which is what happens in the secret place of one-on-one time with Him: He reveals Himself to us and opens our eyes to more of who He is. Therefore, whether in a group or alone, prayer becomes a true delight when we have the right motive in our hearts—connecting with our Creator and growing closer to Him. God will take care of the rest.
By Nicole Sua
Image Courtesy Cissy Zhou