Day 45: Retreat to Pray

Prayer is our direct line of communication with God. Jesus, our ultimate example, prayed very often. In the gospels, we see that He would retreat from everyone around Him for the express purpose of talking to the Father. When was the last time you withdrew from everything else going on in your life to pray?

In Matthew 6, we read about people who pray to be seen. Jesus calls these people hypocrites (vs. 5). By no means is praying in public a bad thing, but it is important that we pray for the right reason and that we are sincere. Under the old covenant, they were doing the right things, but they were focusing on the action instead of the meaning behind the action. The resounding theme of the New Testament is that the sound doctrine and sincerity of heart is what really matters.

In order to receive our reward, we must be sincere in our Christianity. These hypocrites had already received their reward (vs. 5). God does not reward selfishness or vanity. God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7), and He is looking for people to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

In teaching the believers how to pray, Jesus references how the Gentiles “heap up empty phrases.” (Matthew 6:7) Do we use empty words today? It would be hard to argue that we don’t at least repeat phrases on a regular basis. Sometimes it seems like we hear the same prayers every week. We have grown accustomed to certain structures of prayer. It’s like we have Betty Crocker recipes for different prayers (i.e. opening, communion, offering, closing, mealtime, etc.) There are also usually common threads that pop up in prayers. Phrases like, “nourish our body”, “guide, guard, and direct us”, “give back as we have been prospered”, etc. While these are all great things to petition God about, we have to ask ourselves if we have fallen into monotony.

Our prayers to God must be reverent, but they must also be personal. We are approaching the One who loves us most and knows exactly what we need. He should be our closest friend, and we should talk to Him and pour out our heart to Him just like we would our best friend on earth.

Consider Luke 6:12-16. The passage describes a time where Jesus had a very important decision to make. He was about to choose the twelve men that would be His apostles and closest friends for the rest of His time on earth. He knew they would have to be righteous, trustworthy men that would be steadfast in following His teachings after He left this earth. Before He made this important decision, He did something that we can all learn from. He withdrew from everyone and went to a mountain to pray. Not only did He pray, He continued in prayer all night. This says a lot about His fervor and dedication. Jesus made it a point to separate Himself from all distractions to pray.

Make it a point this week to set aside 10 minutes to separate yourself from all distractions. Go somewhere alone where it will be quiet and you won’t be disturbed or distracted by people, technology and other noise, and just talk to God. He already knows, but talk to Him about the things going on in your life. Ask Him to help you with your struggles and to ease your worries. Thank Him for the things that are going good in your life. Prayer is a powerful tool for Christians, but it cannot serve its purpose if we leave it at the church building between services.

Written by Timothy Thompson II, a college student at Mt. Juliet

# posted by JP @ 12:01 AM on Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Comments:

Excellent thoughts Timothy. Everything you said was true to heart. One thing that stands out to me was the fact that when Jesus prayed, He would retreat to isolated places. There are simply times when we need to clear our minds ocmpletely in order to properly talk to God.

Thank you. I enjoyed reading this post.

-Nick Nance

# posted by

Anonymous : December 28, 2010 at 10:57 PM



Day 45: Retreat to Pray Prayer is our direct line of communication with God. Jesus, our ultimate example, prayed very often. In the gospels, we see that He would retreat from everyone around Him for the express purpose of talking to the Father. When was the last time you withdrew from everything else going on in your life to pray? In Matthew 6, we read about people who pray to be seen. Jesus calls these people hypocrites (vs. 5). By no means is praying in public a bad thing, but it is important that we pray for the right reason and that we are sincere. Under the old covenant, they were doing the right things, but they were focusing on the action instead of the meaning behind the action. The resounding theme of the New Testament is that the sound doctrine and sincerity of heart is what really matters. In order to receive our reward, we must be sincere in our Christianity. These hypocrites had already received their reward (vs. 5). God does not reward selfishness or vanity. God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7), and He is looking for people to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). In teaching the believers how to pray, Jesus references how the Gentiles “heap up empty phrases.” (Matthew 6:7) Do we use empty words today? It would be hard to argue that we don’t at least repeat phrases on a regular basis. Sometimes it seems like we hear the same prayers every week. We have grown accustomed to certain structures of prayer. It’s like we have Betty Crocker recipes for different prayers (i.e. opening, communion, offering, closing, mealtime, etc.) There are also usually common threads that pop up in prayers. Phrases like, “nourish our body”, “guide, guard, and direct us”, “give back as we have been prospered”, etc. While these are all great things to petition God about, we have to ask ourselves if we have fallen into monotony. Our prayers to God must be reverent, but they must also be personal. We are approaching the One who loves us most and knows exactly what we need. He should be our closest friend, and we should talk to Him and pour out our heart to Him just like we would our best friend on earth. Consider Luke 6:12-16. The passage describes a time where Jesus had a very important decision to make. He was about to choose the twelve men that would be His apostles and closest friends for the rest of His time on earth. He knew they would have to be righteous, trustworthy men that would be steadfast in following His teachings after He left this earth. Before He made this important decision, He did something that we can all learn from. He withdrew from everyone and went to a mountain to pray. Not only did He pray, He continued in prayer all night. This says a lot about His fervor and dedication. Jesus made it a point to separate Himself from all distractions to pray. Make it a point this week to set aside 10 minutes to separate yourself from all distractions. Go somewhere alone where it will be quiet and you won’t be disturbed or distracted by people, technology and other noise, and just talk to God. He already knows, but talk to Him about the things going on in your life. Ask Him to help you with your struggles and to ease your worries. Thank Him for the things that are going good in your life. Prayer is a powerful tool for Christians, but it cannot serve its purpose if we leave it at the church building between services. Written by Timothy Thompson II, a college student at Mt. Juliet # posted by JP @ 12:01 AM on Tuesday, December 28, 2010 Comments: Excellent thoughts Timothy. Everything you said was true to heart. One thing that stands out to me was the fact that when Jesus prayed, He would retreat to isolated places. There are simply times when we need to clear our minds ocmpletely in order to properly talk to God. Thank you. I enjoyed reading this post. -Nick Nance # posted by Anonymous : December 28, 2010 at 10:57 PM Post a Comment << Home	Mt. Juliet Church of Christ 1940 N. Mt. Juliet Road P.O.Box 248 Mt.Juliet, TN 37122-0248 (615)758-2274 Fax:615-754-2351 Email Worship Services: Sunday Early Worship: 8AM Sunday Bible Study: 9:15AM Sunday Late Worship: 10:15AM Night Worship: 6PM Wednesday Bible Study: 7PM Past Archives: November 2010 December 2010

Day 45: Retreat to Pray

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