Pray with the Right Motives

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Matthew 6:5 (ESV)

Public prayer can get some folks confused.

Amid all of the various ways that we might hear it come out, it can come off like a laundry list of the things we need God to address. It can sound like some folks got a direct line to heaven while the rest of us seem to be on hold. Yet, as they fill the air with flowery words and King James-quoted phrases, it cannot reveal one thing.

You don’t know why that person is praying like that.

It could be that’s how they heard Grandma or the deacons pray way back when they would walk through the woods to get to their church in the deep backcountry. It could be that’s how they heard at the altar by an eloquent orator who could hoop and holler while preaching fire and brimstone sermons from the pulpit. It could be what they witnessed a televangelist do and it was the type of prayer that brought them to the point of confession that saved their very soul when they accepted Christ.

Jesus shared this warning in Matthew chapter 6 ages ago. He pointed out that it happens on the street corners and in the house of worship. He pointed out that the motives were earthly and not eternal. The act was more sacerdotal and not sacred. The practice was more ritualistic than relational.

Are folks praying like this to be heard by God? Or, are they praying like this to sound super sanctified and ultra holy in the eyes of other people?

You just don’t know.

But what you do know is that you’ve got to pray with the right motive in your heart.

Don’t get distracted by what you might see in or hear from others when it comes to prayer. Go to God with your heart open to His answers.

Don’t lose sight of the power of prayer to connect you with God.

Someone else might have the right posture with holy hands uplifted, but you can show up in prayer downcast and seeking mercy just like that tax collector who prayed in that parable Jesus shared in the Gospel. And God will hear you.

Praying with the right motives surpasses any of the other stuff that we attach to the act of prayer.

Why?

Because God knows our hearts and He knows what we need.

Pray with the right motives.

Always pray and don’t lose heart.