Secrecy fosters sincerety

I heard an interesting sermon the other day that made something clear that has long troubled me. It had to do with prayer. The sermon was centered on how we should pray. There is only one instance of anyone teaching anyone how to pray in the Bible and it is Jesus teaching the disciples. They asked Him how to pray, but before He would tell them specifics, He made it clear “where” they should pray and that was in secret and not in public. This is something that I had not thought about much, but has puzzled me from time to time.

Our pastor suggested that “secrecy fosters sincerity”. Think about this for a moment. If we pray when we are in secret, it has to be sincere prayer. Obviously God wants sincere prayer. We are not doing it to impress anybody that is for sure, because if it is done in secret, it precludes that possibility. Jesus disliked the actions of the Pharisees and their rambling prayers offered in the synagogues and on the crowded street corners where large numbers of people could see how pious they were and He stated they were hypocrites motivated primarily by the desire to edify themselves among the populace rather than earnestly praying to God and that was the only reward they would see. If we go somewhere in secret to pray, somewhere that no one else can see or hear us, and just talk one on one with God. We can be assured that we are sincere in our belief system and our motivation can only be pure.

Jesus stated his dislike for repetitious ritualistic prayers that were chanted “as the heathen do” and even referred to them as vain or meaningless. In that regard what should we “say” to God? Most people ask for things. Jesus made it clear that God already knows what we want before we ask. Hmmm Then why ask Him for anything? Well maybe we shouldn’t. Instead of asking God for what WE want, perhaps we should pray and ask God for what HE wants for our lives and that it will manifest itself through His help.

Jesus started His model prayer for us by glorifying God. “Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name”. Hallowed means glorious; so Jesus began His prayer by glorifying God. When we come to the Father, (and almighty God and powerful creator of all), we should keep in mind just who it is that we are addressing and come in humble adoration and thankfulness.

Next in His model prayer Jesus mentions, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven”. Notice that second in importance after glorifying God is to acknowledge that we desire “His” will to be done and not “ours”. Again this emphasizes that it is God’s will and purpose for our lives and this world that is perfect and holy and not ours. The Bible makes it clear that we do not even know what we need. Like small children we often want the wrong things, not realizing the harm that will come from them. God knows exactly what we need in our lives and we should earnestly pray that those pure and righteous things and His purpose will be manifested in our lives.

Next Jesus stated in His model prayer “Give us this day our daily bread”. He did not proffer up a laundry list to include a promotion at work, a new boat, a Porsche, and a date with Christie Brinkley, He asked in rather simple terms that His basic needs be met. God will naturally bless His children and does not need to be presented with a laundry list every time we talk to Him.


Jesus then stated, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”. Here Jesus is instructing the disciples to ask for help in overcoming temptation that comes from satan and emphasizing that satan is no match for God’s power or glory. We must recognize that we are no match for satan alone and that we need God’s help in overcoming him in our daily battles.


Finally Jesus closes the prayer again glorifying God. “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.” The beginning and the end of the prayer are both devoted to glorifying God and acknowledging who He is. Far too many of us are more obsessed with who “we” are and fail to realize who God is in comparison. We need to come to Him humbly. I once saw this spirit demonstrated in Mexico City at a huge cathedral. A Mexican peasant entered the cathedral on his knees. He was obviously very poor as his clothes were ragged. He had his straw hat clutched to his breast, tears streaming down his face and he started inching his way down the long cathedral marble aisle on his knees with his eyes uplifted and fixated on a statue of Jesus on the cross at the front of the church. He must have inched along 250 or 300 feet on his knees down to the front to the church where he silently prayed. This poor Mexican peasant had insight as to who it is that he was approaching and we should identify with this humble spirit and get down on our knees when we approach God almighty and join His holy presence.

The Bible tells us to pray constantly. I hope that when you do pray that these observations will help in some way. Just remember that God answers prayer and that we should ask for the things that are within His will for our lives and He will deliver. He has promised that to us and as you know our holy and pure God cannot ever tell a lie.

Matt. 7:7
Ask and it shall be given you;
seek, and you shall find; knock and it
shall be opened to you;
For every one that asks receives;
and he that seeks finds;
and to him that knocks it shall be
opened.