Spiritual Practices: Prayer
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In CS Lewis’s Screwtape letters, are a compilation of correspondence between two devils. Screwtape an experienced devil is giving advice to wormwood his nephew on how to best tempt, and lead people astray.
In one letter Screwtape goes on a rant about music and silence. He says:
Music and silence–how I detest them both!….[Hell] has been occupied by Noise–Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile–Noise which alone defends us from silly qualms, despairing scruples and impossible desires. We will make the whole universe a noise in the end….The melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the end.
In hell there is neither music nor silence, just noise. And according to Screwtape, noise insulates us from silly qualms, that is when there is noise we can ignore our doubts or fears or reservations about this world. Noise also he says insulates us from despairing scruples, that is when the noise is turned up we have a hard time hearing our concerns about what is right or wrong. And also noise he says insulates against impossible desires. And for Screwtape he does not want people to sense the depth of thier desires, for he knows that awareness of our desires will lead people to the one who can satisfy desire.
A kingdom of noise. I think it is fair to say that we live in a kingdom of noise right now. And as we look at the spiritual practice of prayer this morning, I think this is one of the thing that make prayer so difficult, it is that we are surrounded by so much noise.
One of the things that makes prayer so difficult
FCF:
American culture is probably one of the hardest places to pray. We are surrounded by noise all the time. From the beeping and buzzing of electronics, to the advertisements flooding our field of view. In the car the radio is on, even when we are pumping gas we don’t get a break, we have a screen selling us something or terrible music being played over an even worse speaker.
The noisy world makes it hard to pray, and our noisy mind can do the same. But the good news is that Jesus does not say come to be all who can concentrate when praying, he simply says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Or we try to earn God’s favor with our prayer, or we just simply find it hard to pray because we don’t know God as our heavenly father.
Jesus does not say come to me all who can concentrate in prayer
And what we see in this passage is that because
Because God made us to commune with him we should pray
And while we cannot completely turn off the noise in this world, we can have a quiet soul. So how do we do this?
Jesus gives us some instruction when it comes to prayer. He shows us how to cut through the noise of this life with prayer that is hidden, prayer that is humble and prayer that is familial.
So first,
What prayer is not
What prayer is not
Impress others
Impress others
Manipulate God
Pray honestly
What prayer is
What prayer is
Hidden
Conversation
Co
Familial
Communal
Prayer that is hidden
Prayer that is hidden
Hidden prayer avoids hypocrisy
Look with me at verse 6
“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. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“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.
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
In the previous verse Jesus warns his followers to not pray in order to be seen. So to avoid being a hypocrite he tells them, go find a secret place, maybe a room, or off in solitude somewhere, which he did when he wanted to pray.
Get away from being aware of the potential eyes on you.
And prayer that his hidden does not just help us not pray so as not to be seen, hidden also fosters a quiet mind. Jesus does not condemn public prayer, he prayed publicly, but he also prayed privately.
Look with me at verse 6
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Getting away by yourself helps cancel out the noise and potential distractions, it quiets our minds, and is easier to be completely open, and honest with God in solitude.
Even if you are not praying with people
While our public prayer should also be open and honest, it is easier to have a quiet mind when we are removed from the noise of life, and in private we have greater freedom to pour out prayers before God.
Illustration:
Hidden prayer fosters a quiet mind
Jesus tells us not to pray to be seen, but to get away from the crowed and pray. Getting away from the crowd
Retirement is also useful for another reason, that our minds may be more free and disengaged from all distracting thoughts
Application:
Prayer in private you aren’t thinking about what other people are thinking
Prayer that is humble
Prayer that is humble
Verse 8 your father knows what you need.
The
Illustration: I think he likes to be asked
The familial prayer
The familial prayer
Our
Father
Humility
Honesty
Trust
Intimate conversation between a believer and God
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