This study was first taught on July 21, 2010

Topic: The Believer’s Responsibilities (2): Prayer (3)

No audio available for this study.

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Background
Last week, we saw three manners of praying; two of which are not acceptable ways of praying for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are hypocritical praying, heathenish praying, and honest praying. Of these, only honest praying is the acceptable way to pray.

We said that hypocritical praying is praying for the consumption and applause of people. It is praying out of pretense, and is engaged in by individuals who either do not pray in private at all, or who at best engage in very minimal private praying. Its objective is to mask one’s spiritual emptiness and one’s motive of wanting to deceive unsuspecting individuals by looking or sounding spiritual. It is prideful praying, and has no place in the life of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We noted that heathenish praying is offering prayers to idols, and purporting it to be to God. Heathenish petitions are contrary to the will of God, and seek to engage God in our selfish and evil desires. It is injecting paganism into prayer. Heathenish praying is one in which the individual puts himself through ascetic practices in the hope that such acts will gain him favour with God. Heathenish prayer is thoughtless, purposeless, and repetitive. It seeks to ‘appease’ God for the sole purpose of avoiding suffering, discomfort, and unpleasantness.

Finally, we noted that honest praying is offering prayer to God out of a sincere heart. Honest praying is simply the heart in need calling on the God who can meet the need; the ignorant heart asking and seeking for wisdom and understanding from the only One who can give it; and the troubled heart bringing his concerns to the only One who truly can sort out those concerns; among others. We observed that even the heathen who were honest about their state with God found Him and obtained mercy through their honesty in prayer.

We concluded that in order that we pray aright at all times, the Holy Spirit is available to us to help us pray as we ought to.

Scripture Text(s)
Matthew 6:5- 8
Tonight we elaborate on honest praying, as we look at the premise for such. We pray that the Holy Spirit will help us to be truly sincere in our prayer life.
Honest praying involves praying in secret more, than praying in public, and praying effectually. It involves shutting out all distractions (the glamour, the revelries, the ‘noise’ of the secular world, and even of ministry). It requires that we come to God and pour out our hearts before Him even though He already knows what we want to ask for before we ask.
1 Kings 17:1; James 5:17-18; 1 Kings 18:41-46; Joshua 5:13-6:1ff; Acts 9:10-12; 1:13-14; 2:1ff; 4:23-31; Matthew 14:23-25; John 5:19-21, 30; 6:5-6; 11:1-5; Luke 9:28-32, 37-42; Matthew 17:19-21; Luke 22:39-43; Hebrews 5:7; James 5:13; Jude 20; Proverbs 10:19.

Conclusion
Honest praying, which is a combination of sincere and secret prayer always produces effectual results. No matter how difficult the situation, when we confront it through honest praying, it is resolved. Men gather to celebrate God’s victory on our behalf, even though it was done in secret (away from public view).

Praying to God in secret, results in the demonstration and manifestation of the power of God in the life of one who truly trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ. No child of God should utter of a word of prophecy or any word for that matter in public (be it preaching a sermon, sharing the word of God, or even talking to others), until he has first uttered words of prayer in secret to God! This is a good rule-of-thumb, which if we follow, will give power to our utterance and demonstration of that power for all to see and glorify God. And let our secret praying be in the Holy Spirit with very few but powerfully effective words being declared.

Those who have gone before us spent quality time in secret prayer to God, and received insight into things that they could never have known otherwise; stopped the course of nature; released divine blessings; received grace and power from on high; raised the dead; spoke forth and the impossible became possible; and so on. If the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is truly to be responsible, he must indeed dedicate himself to a life of prayer. And even though God knows what we want to ask before we do, He still wants us to come into His presence and have meaningful and useful conversation with Him. There are secrets God wants to share with us, which will bring tremendous blessings to the righteous, and salvation to the lost. However, we must make a practice of praying to God in secret and sincerely.

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