Effective Prayer

Pastor Gary Oser

One of our greatest responsibilities as Christians is prayer. God talks to us through His Word, and we talk to Him through prayer. We know how important prayer is, but we find it difficult to find time in the midst of busy schedules to pray.

We have good intentions to do better in prayer, but we never seem to follow through. One of the reasons we struggle is because Satan knows how important prayer is so he works overtime to keep us from it.

As I thought about prayer, I thought of Jesus’ teaching on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:5-18. He shares some very practical principles and then a pattern for us to follow. This month, I want us to consider three principles Jesus shared regarding prayer.

First, do not be like the hypocrites. Matthew 6:5 tells us that hypocrites “love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men.” In other words, they draw attention to themselves by their praying. They want to be noticed by people and commended for the way they can pray.

Any attention from our praying should not come to us, but rather be deflected to God.

Second, pray secretly. Jesus said in Matthew 6:6, “But when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret…” Let me say quickly that this does not mean we should not pray publicly. Rather, it is an emphasis on privacy.

We need to have a place where we can get away from distractions and interruptions of life to spend time alone with God. If you don’t have a quiet place where you can spend time daily with God, I would encourage you to establish a place as soon as possible.

Third, avoid meaningless repetition. In Matthew 6:7 Jesus says, “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.”

Jesus does not mean by this that we should never repeat a request. You will remember that He prayed three times in the Garden of Gethsemane that the cup be removed from Him. The best explanation I have run across for what Jesus means by these words is, “the multiplication of words without the addition of meaning.” It is mindlessly repeating words and nice-sounding cliches.

J. Oswald Sanders well says, “Prayers are measured by their intensity and sincerity, not by their length and eloquence.”

May these principles help us to be more effective in our responsibility of prayer.