Praying in Secret and Simply

Spoiler Alert: The next blogpost scheduled is about praying as we go about our day, so it seemed prudent to have this post about Jesus' command to pray in secret.

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, gives us instructions/commands on how we should pray.

He tells us NOT to pray hypocritically, to be seen by others. 

He tells us to pray by going into our room and closing the door before praying.

He tells us NOT to pray with many words or by babbling on.

He reminds us that God knows our needs before we ask Him for anything.

(See Matthew 6:5-8)

Every few years, there is a storm of social media activity, because some Christian coach is in trouble for praying with their team on the sporting field. I sit back and watch people get upset at how "persecuted" we are because we are not being allowed to publicly lead prayer at a school event. But we shouldn't be surprised when we are facing opposition, when we are disobeying the commands of Jesus.

Jesus did not command His followers to make public prayer the hill that we die on.

In fact, he condemned public, showy prayers that are meant to be seen by people.

He commanded us to go off in private to pray in secret. 

So let us obey Jesus by praying in secret

Therefore, when the next post challenges us to pray throughout our days, I am not referring to verbal prayers or even whispered prayers, with folded hands or outstretched arms. We can pray silently, as we go through our daily activities, whether that is at work or at home. And no one will be the wiser. If people are noticing, then we are praying too publicly. 

Likewise, we are commanded NOT to pray with many words. 

We are not begging a distant god to listen to us and do good in our world.

He's not counting the number of words or repetitions in our prayers, so He can finally act once we hit the magic number.

So let our prayers be simple. We can pack a lot of prayers in a simple sentence or two. 

God, draw them closer to You.

Thank You, Lord, for a warm sweater today.

That person looks sad. Holy Spirit, comfort them.

I am here to be used by You today.