When Jesus teaches on prayer in Matthew 6:5–15 he warns that not all prayers are equal. Before he teaches his disciples how to pray, Jesus warns them not to pray like others in the world might. As he does so, he shows where the power for prayer really comes from.
Prayers of the Hypocrites
First, Jesus takes aim at the hypocrite, the one who prays for show. With a set time for prayer at the afternoon sacrifice (around 3pm), people in the Jewish communities of Jesus’ day could be sure to be out on the busy streets or in the synagogue with other devotees. What a great way to show everyone how pious you are! Pray loudly with one eye open just to be sure that everyone can see your zeal. Jesus warns in verse 5, “they have received their reward in full”. Praying like this means you can expect nothing more than what you really wanted anyway, recognition from other likeminded humans.
Jesus’ solution is to go inside and pray, not for the ears of a human but for the unseen Father, who sees and rewards what is done in secret. We could say the first secret to powerful prayer, is making prayer secret. Powerful prayer recognises that the communication is between you and your heavenly Father (and no one else).
Prayers of the Pagans
Second, Jesus takes aim at non-Jewish prayers. This approach loads up a lot of words in order to impress and win over the gods. This might seem respectful. After all, sometimes, if we want to be taken seriously, we have to stop calling him Albo and start calling him The Hon. Anthony Albanese, MP, Prime Minister of Australia. Don’t we want our prayers to be as powerful as anyone else’s? Jesus doesn’t want his disciples buying that line of reasoning. Why? Because those mantra-like prayers, rather than being respectful to God, would simply demonstrate that Jesus’ followers don’t know the God we are praying to.
Again, it comes back to the fatherhood of God. Jesus says in verse 8, “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” In prayer, we are indeed approaching a powerful and mighty God who made and controls all things, but we’re also approaching our own Father. I’d wager that Prime Minister Albanese’s son doesn’t call him The Hon. Anthony Albanese, MP, Prime Minister of Australia when they have conversations. And when I put it like that you can see why, if God is your Father, speaking like that could be inappropriate. Humans can see through flattery and heaped up empty phrases, how much more can God? Jesus’ disciples are not approaching someone they need to butter up before we ask for what we need. If you are a disciple of Jesus, God knows your needs and he is your father.
The Source of Prayer’s Power
Jesus’ disciples shouldn’t pray like the hypocrites to impress people. Jesus’ disciples shouldn’t pray like the Gentiles to win over God. He is already kind, generous, powerful and just. He is listening. He is already our Father and knows our needs. The secret to powerful prayer is to pray knowing our Father.
As I see it, the real mistake that the pagans and hypocrites were making is that they didn’t see where the power for prayer came from. Or, better, they didn’t see who it came from. The pagans thought that the power of prayer (one way or another) was theirs. They needed to perform their prayers to get the magic just right. By praying for a long time they might eventually stumble on just the right set of words. Or they might show just how respectful and earnest they really were and win their god over. But a god that we can manipulate into action, isn’t truly wise or powerful. A god that we have to manipulate isn’t very loving. But prayer is not magical, it’s a conversation with the God who knows and loves us.
For their part, the hypocrites thought that the power of prayer would come from being seen by others. In Jesus day, this was effective. They did get affirmed in their communities, but they were not affirmed by God. Functionally, they thought the real power of prayer would be in other people seeing them as prayerful. The only benefit of prayer was social. That’s probably even weaker than a pagan god who can be manipulated.
Praying to Our Heavenly Father
For people who listen and learn from Jesus the power of prayer comes from our heavenly Father. We trust his wisdom and power. We trust his goodness. He makes himself available to us, he will hear and he will respond. He might not do the thing that we want. But he will do what is (ultimately) best for us and for this world.
It’s not about me and my words. It’s so easy for Christians to feel guilty about their prayer life when in actuality prayer, Christian prayer, is talking to a loving and understanding Father. He himself is the secret to successful prayer. We come to a God big enough and kind enough to deal with our anxiety, our struggles, our weakness, our sin. He is wise, powerful, kind and forgiving.
