The story is told of a little boy who was saying his prayers at bedtime.  As he prayed, he said, “Lord, bless Mommy and Daddy.”  Then he paused.  Finally, in as loud a voice he could muster, he shouted, “AND GIVE ME A NEW BICYCLE!”  His mom, who was kneeling next to him at his bedside said, “Son, God is not hard of hearing.”  The boy said, “I know, but Grandma’s in the next room.  And she is.”

 

Prayer can be a complicated thing.  It is not always what it appears to be.  It is possible that prayer can have very little to do with God and a great deal more to do with self-promotion.  This was certainly the case with the Pharisees.  In Matthew 6:5, Jesus said that when the hypocrites pray, they love to stand in the Synagogues and at street corners in order to be seen by others.  Jesus was not fooled by prayer per se.  Not everyone who prays is closer to God because of it.

 

Jesus spent more time warning us about wrong motives when we pray than He spent encouraging us to pray.  Here is what Jesus knew: that prayer, like every other human activity is filled with traps, temptations, pride, misunderstanding, false motives, greed, and even the desire that God would bless our evil deeds.

 

Think of the suicide bombers who have prayed before their mission.  Think about the religious teachers who had Jesus crucified.  These were evil men known for their prayers.  I have talked to many a couple who are having sex out of wedlock and who confidently told me, “We prayed about this.”  Shockingly, prayer can be one of the most godless things a human being can do.

 

Are you shocked to hear me say it?  Jesus would agree.  Think of how He mocked the prayers of the self-righteous publican, who in his prayer recounted the ways he was better than others.  Think of how Jesus exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who made their phylacteries broad and their prayer fringes long.

 

Of course, stating things this way is misleading.  In the culture in which Jesus lived, everyone prayed.  In ours, they do not.  And that is why Jesus spent so much time warning the hypocrites.  They loved to pray in public to be seen by others.

 

In our culture, prayer is notably absent.  Hence many contemporary Christians, when they are honest, confess that their prayer life is almost non-existent.  And to be sure, Jesus did encourage people to pray. Luke 18:1 (ESV) says,

 

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

 

They ought always to pray!  Jesus insisted on it!  Prayer, along with persistent prayer, must be encouraged and taught.  Even as the disciples needed instructions, both to pray and how to pray, so do we.

 

So, don’t misunderstand.  Jesus often warned about false motives in praying. But He also knew that a life devoid of prayer is a life on empty.  It is life without a source of power.  It is like pushing your car down a road, never realizing what a motor will do for you.

 

Prayer, if done rightly, is the fuel for your walk with God.  If you don’t pray, you don’t know God.  Furthermore, James 4:2 says that we do not have many things, things God wants to give us, because we have not asked.  God wants us to learn how to bend the knee and come to Him, requesting our daily bread as well as forgiveness of our sins.  We must pray. But as we do, let’s also ask God to cleanse our hearts and reveal any false motives within us.