Our Lord's
admonition against public praying is full-on assault against mindlessness in
being with God. He wants us thinking and
not with our mind upon those around us but upon Him. The hypocrites are engaged in
"prayerishness" but not actual praying. When Jesus pushed for closet praying, He
wasn't speaking of spaces and locations but the way of being that prayer people
maintain. He gave us structure to
praying in the model prayer that provides a framework for what prayer is but
not a closed in box for prayer. If we
are not praying with God at the center of what we are doing, without Him as the
form of thinking we are taking, then we might as well just call ourselves
pagans and be done with the exercise.
But if we have our mind on God, we come into fellowship with Him and
actual transformation occurs in our praying.
No individual who met with God as God stayed the same. Whether you consider Abraham, Moses or Peter,
the work of God in each was tangible. It
is interesting that in His teaching on prayer, Jesus immediately moves into
forgiveness. Why is that? Is this just a jumble of sayings thrown
together without cohesive thought given to them or is there a connection Christ
makes between prayer and forgiveness? It
seems that the natural outcome of praying is that we change...sometimes in big
ways and other times in nearly imperceptible increments. If we meet with God though, we will become
different and here He gives as an example of this forgiveness. You cannot remain attached to God as a
praying person and hold a grudge against someone else. It is reflexive. Prayer results in a change of direction in
some way, whether it is in how we judge others, the generosity of our heart,
the developing loss of attachment to money and possessions, an internal
integrity that defies dishonesty or a genuine love for enemies. Prayer is not an exercise in religious
development, it is an astounding union between God and His people; the outcome
is building holiness grounded in humility.
The beauty of prayer is that it can be done at any moment of every single
day and the bridge into the mind of our Lord is open whenever we choose to meet
with Him. The room of Matthew 6: 6 is
symbolic of the determination to be with God and not let our world encroach
upon that relationship. Our God is
jealous for our attention and rightfully so.
He knows just what is possible when we turn our minds to Him in prayer.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name… Matthew 6: 9b NIV
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