Pour Out Your Heart Through PrayerSample

Pray Like This

The first approach to prayer that Jesus describes is the hypocrite’s prayer—the overflow of a performative spirituality, rooted in insecurity. What, then, is the proper approach to prayer?

Jesus next describes how to rightly approach God. “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).

Where the hypocrite plans his prayers and takes them out to the synagogues and street corners, Jesus’s disciples are to stay at home, go into their rooms (in the Greek, the word typically referred to a pantry or closet), and close the door. The hypocrite prays to be seen by others; the disciple prays to be seen by God.

But this posture is not merely the disciple’s prayer; Jesus goes one step further. Remember, he says, “pray to your Father, who is unseen” (Matthew 6:6, emphasis added).

Now, let’s pause and let the full weight of this phrase sink in. The Israelites had thousands of years of history following God. They had the stories of creation and the garden, they knew the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; they had the wisdom of the Proverbs and had memorized many Psalms. They worshipped in the temple, gave tithes to the poor and needy, observed the Sabbath, and celebrated dozens of holy days. Their lives were appropriately religious and (in varying degrees depending on the person) God-centered.

But this was new. Although the Old Testament occasionally refers to God as Father to his people (Deuteronomy 32:6; Psalm 103:13; Isaiah 63:16; 64:8), this was not a regular thought for the people of God. For Israel, God is predominately known as Creator, Redeemer, Shepherd, and Almighty God. But Father? Let’s not get too carried away.

But suddenly, Jesus is on the scene; he’s the Son of God and the exact imprint of God, he is “one with the Father” (John 10:30).

Sure, God loves to be Jesus’s Father, we might think. After all, Jesus is doing a pretty good job of being a Son. He is eternal and perfect and holy. He doesn’t sin. He never disappoints his Father. Why wouldn’t God love his Son, Jesus? We believe all this. But God as our Father? Here we may stumble. Yet Jesus was abundantly clear.

“Close the door and pray to your Father.” (Matthew 6:6, emphasis added)

“Then your Father . . . will reward you.” (v. 6, emphasis added)

“Do not be like [the pagans], for your Father knows what you need.” (v. 8, emphasis added)

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven.’” (v. 9, emphasis added)

“If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (v. 14, emphasis added)

“But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (v. 15, emphasis added)

There we go: Six references to God as Father—and not just Father to Jesus, but Father to you—in Jesus‘ very brief instructions on how to pray. Do you see the posture Jesus invites us to take? It is simply and boldly the child’s prayer.