How Not To Pray - Pastor David Houck | August 2, 2026

Is there a wrong way to pray? In this message, Pastor David explores two types of prayers that Jesus condemned. 

Transcript

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So in December of 1944, miserable weather had created a military crisis for General Patton's Third Army as they prepared for a crucial offensive against the Germans. Those days of icy rain, thick clouds, and dense fog, grounded aircraft, it bogged down tanks in the mud, and it halted supplies. Patton recognized that military strategy alone wasn't enough. So he asked his chaplain, James O'Neill, to find a prayer for favorable weather. Unable to find one, O'Neill composed one for the general, and Patton not only approved of the prayer, but he ordered that 250,000 copies were to be made and distributed throughout the Third Army, as well as a note to every unit that included this directive. Urge all of your men to pray, not alone in church, but everywhere. Pray when driving, pray when fighting, pray alone, pray with others. Pray by night and pray by day. Pray for the cessation of a moderate rains, for good weather for battle. Pray for the defeat of our wicked enemy whose banner is injustice and whose good is oppression. Pray for victory, pray for our army, and pray for peace. Not long after these cards were sent out, a sudden break in the weather filled the skies with Allied aircraft and allowed Patton's army to advance, striking a fatal blow against the German army and opening a path straight to Berlin. Now, if you know anything about Patton, his religious beliefs were a bit odd to say the least, but one thing is for certain. He understood the power of prayer. And he's not alone. Nearly half of the American population pray daily. But not all prayers are equal. And of those who do pray, many are dissatisfied with their prayer life. We know that prayer is not just wishful thinking, nor is it a request that's just offered up to anyone who might be listening in the sky. True prayer is a direct line of communication to the God of the Bible, made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. But even among us practicing Christians, there are many misconceptions about prayer and how we should pray. And this is nothing new. In Jesus' day, most religious people didn't know how to properly pray, including Jesus' disciples. And so in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke about prayer. In Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 5, Jesus said, 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, do not heap up empty praises, empty phrases like the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Over the next several weeks we will be studying Jesus' teachings on prayer. Then hopefully by the end, our prayer lives will not only grow more powerful, but they will be more aligned with the will of our Lord Jesus. But we're going to begin this morning by examining Jesus' first two teachings here, found in verses 5 to 7. First of all, we discover that in verse 5, Jesus expects Christians to pray. Jesus expects Christians to pray because he said in verse 5, and when you pray, not if you pray, not hey, it's this is optional. Not, hey, when when some of you pray, but when you pray, when all of you pray, because I expect you to pray. And this is consistent with his teachings. In Luke chapter 18, verse 1, it says, and he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. Jesus taught that his followers, his disciples, should always pray. Later on, the apostle Paul echoes this. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 17, Paul wrote, pray without ceasing. Now you might wonder, what on earth does that mean? What does it mean to pray without ceasing? Are we just, you know, are we supposed to be like a monk and just pray for hours and hours and hours and hours on end? No. In fact, it's often translated as pray continually. In other words, it's not enough to pray once a week. Nor is it just enough to pray when you wake up or when you eat or when you go to bed. We are commanded by God to pray continually throughout the day in every circumstance. When we wake up, when we leave the house or send the kids off to school, when we're in the car, when we're at work, when we're at home, when we go to bed. Now, why is this so important? Why do we need to pray without ceasing? Pray continually. Why isn't God just satisfied with praying in church and praying at night or saying grace at dinner? It's important because our Heavenly Father desires a relationship with you. Imagine if you only spoke to your spouse five minutes a day. Maybe some of you do know that. How strong do you think that relationship would be? Yes, so many of us do this with God. We greatly limit our intimacy with God when we reduce our prayers to just a few minutes a day. Now, some people, in an effort to encourage people to pray, will say that there is no wrong way to pray. They say, no, no, no, just pray, there's no wrong way, just make sure that you're praying. And I get the sentiment behind it. But from Jesus' teachings here, we know that is simply not true. There are incorrect ways to pray. And it's interesting that before Jesus taught how we should pray, he first taught how not to pray. How not to pray. Now, I am sure that given the time, we can go through scripture and find many incorrect ways of praying. But today we're just going to focus on the two that Jesus spoke about in this passage. And first of all, in verses five through six, Jesus condemned hypocritical prayers. Hypocritical prayers. Looking back at verse 5, he said, 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. The term hypocrite is based upon a Greek word for stage actors, many of whom wore masks, and it evolved over time to a more negative term of people pretending to be someone they are not. And that's how we understand the term today. Jesus frequently used this label to condemn the religious leaders of the day, the scribes and the Pharisees. In fact, this is not the only time he condemns the hypocrisy of the religious leaders in his Sermon on the Mount. Just before this passage, he warns against giving as the hypocrites do. And just after, he warns against fasting as the hypocrites do. But here, Jesus focuses in on hypocritical prayers. The prayers of men pretending to be someone they are not. Men pretending to be religious and righteous, but inside were wicked and sinful. In Luke chapter 18, Jesus told a parable of the prayers of a Pharisee and a tax collector. Beginning in verse 10, he said, Two men went into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed this God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. The Pharisee, the highest status in Jewish culture, used prayer as an opportunity to boast in his works, believing that it's his religion that makes him right with God. I mean, he fasts more than the biblical standard. He tithes on everything he earns. In other words, his hope is in himself and his religious deeds. And this type of thinking always leads to pride and haughtiness, especially when someone sees someone else who's not as religious as they are. And this is what happens. The Pharisee sees the tax collector, the most hated group in Jewish society, and thanks God that he's not like him. But the tax collector's hope isn't in his religion, but in God's mercy. Rather than elevate himself before God and others, he humbled himself and acknowledged his need for a savior. God have mercy on me, a sinner. And Jesus was so clear. It wasn't a prideful religious prayer that was answered, but the humble prayer of repentance from the sinner. Not the man pretending to be someone he is not. But there's another layer to hypocritical prayers that's at play here. It's not just about boasting in oneself before God, but elevating oneself before men. Jesus continually rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for that type of behavior. Matthew 23, verse 5, Jesus said, They do all their deeds to be seen by others. Their religious deeds, their giving, their fasting, their prayers, don't come from a genuine love and devotion to God, but for the desire for the attention of others. They were all about status. It was all about earning people's respect and praise. And they were wealthy men and they made a big show of everything they did. You notice Jesus in that parable said the Pharisees stood off by himself because that's what they would do in the temple. They wouldn't stand with everyone else worshiping God. They would stand in their own place because they are special. And he says, God, thank you that I'm not like that tax collector. Everything they did was for show. Jesus said in Mark chapter 12 and his teaching, he said, Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces, and have the best seats in the synagogue and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation. There's a lot we could unpack there. But I just want to focus on for a pretense, they make long prayers. They have long, elaborate prayers that go on and on and on. It was for pretense. It's false. It's fake. Let's be honest. Do you know who is often guilty of this today? It's pastors. It's guys like me who like to stand and make some a long, elaborate prayer and add so many details and so many verses in it. Now, to be fair, there's the idea of the pastoral prayer. There's the idea of praying a powerful prayer over a congregation. That's not necessarily wrong. In fact, just because a prayer is long or just because a prayer is eloquent, we have to be careful not to just automatically assume it's false or it's hypocritical. But I have experienced this because this often happens not necessarily with pastors in their own church, but when pastors are in the company of other pastors. My dad and I, I think it was sometime last year or a couple years ago, we went to a revival night at a local church. And it just so happened that there were several pastors who happened to be attending. And so the guy who was up front said, Hey, I see several pastors in attendance here tonight. I would like to invite all of them forward to pray before our service begins. And I mean, to be quite frank, my dad and I did not want to go up there, but we were called out, so we went up there. And um, I had recognized some of the pastors. There's one pastor who is um considered very important in the region, and it was so interesting how each pastor's prayer was just a little bit longer than the one before. And finally we get to the one where there's scripture. I mean, it is an entire message, it is a long, elaborate prayer, and it just becomes a show. And I'm thinking, all right, there's five of us here. Let's keep it pretty short, alright? We don't need to keep dragging this on. Let's hear the guy who is here to deliver the message. But it happens, it's out there. But what about the rest of us? I mean, can that happen in our lives? Most people are kind of shy or embarrassed to pray in front of others. So you might think, well, I don't have a problem with that. But how about this? Do you always pray over your dinner? Or do you just do it when you have company? Do you just do it when you're out to dinner with friends? Do you just do it in church? Does your personal prayer life match your public prayer life? Or the image you try to portray to others. So Jesus is clear, don't pray like the hypocrites. So how should we pray? He said in 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. Our prayer life should first and foremost be intimate and private. One-on-one communication with our Heavenly Father. Jesus modeled this well throughout his ministry. Luke chapter 5, verse 16 says that he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. Jesus routinely broke away from the crowds, even his own disciples, hiking up mountains if he needed to, just to spend time alone with God. Do you do that? Do you actively seek dedicated, undistracted time for just you and your Heavenly Father? Do you have a set place and time where you can go to read your Bible and pray? If not, what are you willing to give up in order to do that? Scrolling on your phone in the morning or watching TV in the evening? Now, a lot of us do use our opportunity in the car to pray. In fact, there's a statistic that more people pray in the car than do in church, which is kind of crazy. But I do it too. But hopefully you're still focused on the road, alright? I mean, please, if you ever get into an accident, don't tell the officer it's because you're praying, alright? That makes all of us look bad. But undistracted, focused, isolated time with you and God. If Jesus needed that, why should we treat it as optional? Now to be clear, this isn't a prohibition against any sort of public or group prayer. As we read, Jesus followed this teaching with a prayer. We read several public prayers that he made. And in the book of Acts, we see that it was a high priority among the disciples and the first century church to pray together. Some people have the opposite problem. Again, afraid to pray in groups. Perhaps it's because you're not comfortable with your own private prayers. Because if your private prayer life isn't in order, your public one never will be either. So Jesus condemns hypocritical prayers. Secondly, he condemns hollow prayers. Hollow prayers, empty prayers, meaningless prayers, strictly liturgical prayers. Prayers offered to the wrong recipient, or perhaps offered to no particular specific person at all. In verse 7, he said, And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. The pagan practices, the pagan religions used long-winded, elaborate prayers intended to persuade or even manipulate their gods. After all, if their gods are answering them, then they just must not be praying hard enough, right? And there's an Old Testament story that illustrates this perfectly. I actually find it kind of funny. The prophet Elijah is essentially in a competition with pagan prophets. We're actually told one prophet Elijah versus 450 prophets of Baal. And they're trying to prove whose God is real. And the test is to see who. Whose God will rain down fire on an altar? And so we read this story in first Kings chapter 18, verses 25 through 29. Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Choose for yourselves one bowl and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your God, but put no fire to it. And they took the bowl that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, answer us. But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made, and at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing or he is relieving himself, or maybe he's on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened. And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out upon them. And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the ablation, but there was no voice. No one answered. No one paid attention. Didn't matter how long or how hard they prayed, there was no answer. Because the God they were praying to was no God at all. In our age of universalism, people say that it doesn't matter which God you pray to. I mean, it all goes to the same place. It's all the same God. I mean, Allah, Odin, Thor, Zeus, Buddha, whoever it is. I mean, God hears those. It's all the same God. But God doesn't answer to those names. Others might pray to their ancestors, deceased loved ones, saints, even Mary. Those prayers are nothing short of heresy. And God will not answer those. And so when He doesn't answer well, we must not be doing it right. We need to be praying more. We need to face a certain direction. We need a special rug to kneel on. We need to take a certain position. We need special beads or altars or idols. Maybe we're just not saying the magic words. Maybe there are special prayers we need to memorize and repeat over and over and over again. And somewhere in the process, the prayers themselves lose their meaning. Not only are they directed to the wrong place, but it's not even about the prayer at all. It's about religion. It's about ritual. Even for us Christians, our prayers can become hollow and empty. Depending on your background, maybe you were given or told some prayers to memorize and repeat and say daily. But you never really stop to think about what you're actually saying. It just becomes habit. For the rest of us, we can fall into the trap of repeating the same things day by day. I mean, you really thought about those words. You meant them, you felt them at one point, but you just fall into the habit. It becomes muscle memory. And every night at bed, you're just saying the same things and you're thinking about something else. Can happen to all of us. Hollow prayers. Even the Lord's Prayer. What we read here can become liturgical, empty tradition. There's nothing wrong with memorizing the Lord's Prayer. By the end of the series, we're all gonna know it by heart if you don't know it now. There's nothing wrong with praying it. But notice that Jesus said, pray then like this, or this is how you should pray, not this is what you should pray. Jesus was giving us a prayer to be modeled after, not a prayer to be memorized and mimicked. You can say those words all you want, but it amounts to nothing if you don't mean them. And then there's the flip side. Not saying the words meaninglessly, but instead assigning too much meaning to the words we say. We have to say the magic words. We have to pray like God is some sort of genie in the bottle, right? You want to say exactly what you mean so that God doesn't take it the wrong way and do something else. Or we have to persuade him. Or we have to make deals with God. God, if you just do this, then I will do this. Jesus said not to pray like that. He said that's what the pagans do. Rather, Jesus said in verse 8, do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. Don't ever think that you're giving God some new information when you pray. That you're updating him. Hey, God, this is what's going on, by the way. This is what I need, this is what I want. He knows what's going on. He knows what you're gonna say. He even knows what's in your hearts, what you need, and what you desire. When we pray and we're thinking about something else, he knows what we're thinking about. There's nothing wrong with asking God to meet our needs. Jesus taught us to. Nor is there anything wrong with telling God our desires. After all, he already knows them. But we don't need to beg out of a place of fear. We place our requests before God and trust that he will answer them according to his will. Now there's nothing wrong with persistence. Jesus even teaches that we should keep knocking on God's door until he answers. But we do so with the faith that God will ultimately provide what we need, not a fear that he doesn't hear us. Are you being persistent in your prayer when you keep asking God for something out of faith? Or are you doing it because you're afraid he just hasn't heard you yet? Or you're afraid that it's on you of whether or not the prayer is answered, not on him. Luke chapter 6, verses 25 through 33. Jesus said, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they never neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Is that your faith? When you ask God to provide what you need, or when you tell God your desires, are you begging out of anxiety and fear that he's not going to follow through his promise? Are you telling him out of faith that you know he will provide according to his will? Jesus calls us to pray persistently, privately, and personally. I want you to say that with me. Persistently, privately, and personally. Persistently, meaning pray throughout your day. Keep the line open. Talk to God wherever you go. Tell him your thoughts, your feelings, your desires. Thank him for things throughout the day. I love to do that. To see something beautiful in creation or sunset and just say, wow, God, thank you for that. Thank God for your family, for your job. You know, we've talked about when you're having a miserable day at work, but then you can just stop and say, thank you, God, that I have a job. Pray persistently. Pray privately. Go to a secret place. Get away from the world for a few moments and spend some time with God. Do what you need to make that happen. Get up a little bit earlier. Stay up a little bit later. Go to your car on your break and just pray. Do what you need to do. And pray personally. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Speak to God openly and honestly. I mean, he knows your thoughts and feelings anyway. There's no hiding them. God doesn't want to hear some memorized prayer said without meaning. He wants to hear from you, his child. Those are the prayers God hears. We have a beautiful promise. The Apostle John wrote, and this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. But this, which we'll talk about next week, is for God's children. And not just God's children, as in, we're all created by God, we're all children of God. But those God has adopted. Those who have been redeemed through the blood of His Son Jesus. Those who have the Holy Spirit dwelling within him. You don't have access to him, which only comes through Jesus. Jesus said, No one comes to the Father except through me. If you're not praying through Jesus, you will never be answered. So first and foremost, before you pray persistently, privately, and personally, you need to know for a fact that you're praying through Jesus. And that means you give your life to him. That means you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You admit the fact that you are a sinner, that you're destined for help. But you accept the free gift of grace that Jesus bought for you on the cross. And then you become a true child of God. Amen? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this time together. We thank you for sending your son Jesus to die on a cross to save us from our sins and to open up access to you. It is only through Jesus' sacrifice and the power of the Holy Spirit that we can come before you and pray to you as a loving Father in heaven. Lord, if there's anyone here today who doesn't have that relationship with you, who isn't a true child of God, I pray that they wouldn't leave here today without making that decision, without praying to you. Something as simple as the tax collector's prayer, God have mercy on me, a sinner. For the rest of us, Lord, I pray that our prayer life would match what we might portray to others. And Lord, that our prayers, through the series and through the power of your word, might align more and more with your will. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.