“Pray without ceasing.”  — I Thessalonians 5:17.

I’m not implying that I know more about prayer than you.  I hate to hear anyone celebrated as “an expert in prayer,” for the simple reason that no child should be called an expert in talking to his/her parent.  What’s so hard about that?

Granted, we make it harder than it should be, with our rules, our religions, our legalism, our opinions, our blindness, and our sinfulness.  But in its essence, prayer is talking to the Father through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Period.

What I do imply however (for this article) is that there are insights in Scripture on the subject of prayer many of us may have missed.  Here are a few……

One. Scripture says you do not know how to pray as you should.  That’s Romans 8:26. So, let’s not let that stop us.  God’s not looking for eloquence but faith. My book on prayer is called Pray Anyway.  That’s the idea.

Two.  Scripture says both the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus are interceding for us.  That is Romans 8:26 and 8:34. Now, personally, I have no idea how this works, particularly when Romans 8:31 adds that “God is for us!”  So, it appears that all of Heaven is on our side!

Three. Scripture says the best pray-ers were Moses and Samuel.  That’s Jeremiah 15:1.  So, we can learn about prayer by studying what they did.

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“And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites… Therefore, do not be like them…” (Matthew 6:8).

All right, class, listen up.  If you expect to be the next generation of hypocrites, you need to give me your full attention.  The old Pharisees will be passing off the scene before long, and we’ll need a new class of the double-minded–you know, the play-actors–ready to step up and fill their ranks.

Tongue firmly planted in cheek now, everyone?  All right. Let us proceed….

It’s not easy being a hypocrite.  You’re always working on two levels, keeping things to yourself while presenting another image to the world.  And that’s hard.  It takes a pretty smart person to pull this off.  Shallow lazy people can be a lot of things, but not a successful Pharisee.

Scripture says “a double-minded person is unstable in all his ways;  he should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” That’s James 1:7-8.  We cite it here for two reasons. First, to say how tough our calling is, and second, to remind ourselves that being hypocrites we’re not expecting to receive anything from the Lord for our prayers.  That’s not the point.

Okay? Got that? For a hypocritical Pharisee, prayer is about a lot of things, but touching the Heavenly Father with our actual needs is not one of them.

Now, that being said….

Your assignment as a hypocrite will cover a lot of areas–your home life where you say one thing and do another, your church life where you pretend to love the Lord while secretly maneuvering and conniving, your stewardship where you claim to give more than you do and look for ways to profit from your spirituality, and of course, your prayer life which will be groomed for public consumption but devoid of anything vital and sincere. But today, let’s zoom in.

For the moment, let’s focus on prayer.  Praying like a hypocrite–the Pharisaical model–is not for the weak of heart.  Only the top ten percent of the class will be able to meet the stringent requirements.  Consider, for example…

One. A Pharisee must be able to pray effectively in public.  (Matthew 6:5)

He does it in public because that’s the whole point: to impress people.

Those with stage fright who dread speaking in public will not be able to pull this off. A Pharisee can always be counted on to pray at public gatherings, in church settings, and at civic events.  A Pharisee will have worked up a set of great phrases and voice patterns which sound impressive to the public at large, and which, with a little practice, you will be able to whip off at a moment’s notice.

The end result–and this is always the point–is that people will come away impressed by your spirituality and ready to trust you with the crown jewels.

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(This is a reprint of an article from 2011.  Rather than tweak and update it–my usual practice–I decided it works very well as is.) 

Tonight, a realization threw me out of the bed and drove me to my note pad. I was lying there in the post-midnight hour doing what we preachers do, going over my sermon for later this morning.

The sermon is a beginning message for a four-day revival meeting I’ll be preaching for the First Baptist Church of Crowville, Louisiana. This congregation runs 80 to 100 in attendance and is made up largely of farmers and their families. The pastor, Dr. Keith Dowden, and I had dinner tonight and prayed for the Lord to give me the messages and do something special in the hearts and lives of his people.

My text is the parable of the mustard seed, Matthew 13:31-32. It’s a strong insight that a lot of the people in our pews need to hear, that God loves to use small, ordinary things and churches and people and acts and offerings. The mustard seed is a reminder that what God begins to do may be unimpressive on the outside, ordinary to the human eye, and not big by any means. However, being God, He can do amazing things with small beginnings.

I love to encourage small congregations with the assurance Jonathan gave his armorbearer just before the two of them took on a nest of Philistine warriors. “It matters little to the Lord whether He saves by the few or the many.” (I Samuel 14:6)

I like the question the prophet Zechariah raised as he spoke of the rebuilding of an economical version of the Temple and the coming of a Messiah who would ride in on a colt and be pierced for our transgressions: “Who has despised the day of small things?” (Zech. 4:10)

The answer to that is: “We do.” We like big things, dramatic results, impressive crowds, celebrity guests.

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Why do we make praying so difficult?  Let the pastor announce he’s planning to bring a sermon on prayer and half the congregation looks for reasons to be out that day.

None of us pray all that well, to be sure.  Even the best of us.  How do I know that?  Because the Bible says so–

We do not know how to pray as we should (Romans 8:26).

There it is, in black and white.  In the Holy Book itself.

Must be true.

Now, I knew I didn’t know much about prayer.  And I sort of figured you have similar problems with praying. But what a surprise to find out the great apostle himself admits to having difficulties praying.

It appears God is asking us to do something none of us do well.

Let’s talk about this.  I’m glad to see Scripture actually addresses the matter.

Let’s start with this–

Scripture tells us God has taken all the work out of prayer. 

Romans 8 says that–

–Romans 8:26-27 informs us that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us.

–Romans 8:34 says the Lord Jesus is in Heaven interceding for us.

–and Romans 8:31 says God the Father is for us.

We’ve got it made, friend.  When we turn to God in prayer, we are not talking to a hostile judge like the widow in Luke 18.  That judge was indifferent to her, angry about her interruptions, he despised her, and he finally gave in to her requests only after she made him miserable enough.

The One we address in prayer is not indifferent to us.  He is our Heavenly Father.  And He is on our side.

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“Your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him.” –Matthew 6:8.

Who wouldn’t like to lose weight without dieting?  And, yes, we’d like to get healthy and have our muscles toned up while we sleep.  Half the people I know would like to get a college degree without going to class or studying.

Forget it. Not going to happen.

In the same way, spiritual disciplines require purposeful effort from us.  Whether we are fasting and enduring great tribulation for Jesus’ sake, or doing something as simple as studying our Sunday School lesson and offering grace before meals, conscious effort is required, and that means a strong focus on the Savior.

Prayer is hard work, we are told.

I respond that this is a half-truth.  Overcoming our human tendency to “do it by myself” (like a petulant four-year-old) and our sinful insistence on hanging onto a sinful but enjoyable habit, those may indeed require discipline and effort.  Making myself turn off the television or lay aside an enjoyable book to open God’s word and read and meditate and pray does require some effort from me.

But is prayer itself–talking with the Heavenly Father–actually work?  Is it hard to talk to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us our needs?  Is it work to praise Him for His wondrous works?

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