Dave's Diary

Daily Reading: Matthew 6:5-15

Today we shift our attention to the Ancient Path of Prayer. We understand that the diligent pursuit of God-pleasing, sincere prayer has been a trustworthy path for relating to God faithfully, and for living in His abundant life, ever since Adam and Eve walked with the LORD in the Garden “in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8).

In today’s reading, Jesus starts by teaching His disciples the central importance of our heart-motives in prayer. He points to the error of praying to be seen by others. Prayer that is born of a desire to impress other people is an insult to God. When we spout words towards God while actually being focussed first and foremost on impressing others, we are really just using God for our own selfish purposes, and such “prayers” are not actually prayer at all.

The truest and deepest prayer happens in the privacy and secrecy of our own heart-relationship with God. Just as the deepest and truest human conversations happen one-on-one, when no outside influences are present – the deepest and truest prayers are possible in the privacy of personal intimacy with the LORD. In those moments, the quality and quantity of the words we use becomes completely irrelevant, and the only measure is whether they accurately express the inner thoughts, emotions and intentions of our hearts.

In the words of Charles Spurgeon: “Christians’ prayers are measured by weight, and not by length. Many of the most prevailing prayers have been as short as they were strong.”

Lord Jesus, please teach us to pray. Please teach us to pour out our minds and our hearts to You in simple sincerity and truth. Amen.