Subject: Prayer - Matthew 5-7

Matthew 6:6 (ESV Strong's)
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.

Subject: Prayer

The secret to prayer is to pray in secret!   That is Christ's words, here, stated in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).  Jesus is teaching His disciples about the difference between the life they think they should live and have been taught to live, by the Jewish Scribes and the life God wants us to live.  The difference between the two is the difference between the outward and the inward.  The Jewish religious leaders had taken all The Law and turned it into a set of outward mandates, policies, practices and procedures (think Employee Handbooks).   The teaching of Jesus, however, is a focus on the internal.  His concern is the heart.   Everything flows from the heart.   After tackling several practical issues, Jesus reaches the teaching on prayer.    Like the other teachings, the Scribes had turned prayer into an outward, public and pretentious spectacle.   Public worship and public prayer were signs of pious behavior to the religious leaders of the day.  But, Jesus changes it all with the above verse.  It is not about the outward, public prayer, it is the inward, secret prayer life that conquers sin, moves mountains and finds favor with God.   God will openly reward the secret prayer life.   It is about talking to God in private and not exposing to theirs your pious behavior.  Jesus is not forbidding public prayer.  We have plenty of examples in the Book of Acts of the Apostles praying in the Church in public.  Jesus is not forbidding telling people you pray.  Paul, in almost all his letters, tells us about his prayer life.   Jesus is saying that the character of prayer (in "secret" meaning between you and God and in sincerity) is more important than the construct of prayer.   How it is done is less important that why it is being done.  The heart behind the prayer is more important than the lips of the prayer.  The odd aspect of Jesus' teaching is that the "Lord's Prayer" follows the above verse.  What have people done with the "Lord's Prayer?"  They have turned it into a pious and pretentious repetition to show false faith.   The secret to prayer is to do it secretly.