The Cost of Discipleship – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Chapter 15 The Hiddenness of Prayer

Matthew 6:5-8 ^“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 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. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

Prayer is a consuming topic throughout the Christian community. There are questions that arise over the topic and most are clearly answered in scripture.

When do we pray? I Thessalonians 5:16-18 sums it up in we are to pray continually, or without ceasing. We are to live in the state of constant communion with Jesus.

To whom do we pray? This is where many want to “add something” to scripture. I Timothy 2:5-6 is clear. The only mediator we have between us and God is Jesus. Putting anyone or anything else into the mix is idolatry. ^“5For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.”

Why do we pray? Matt. 6:5 & 7 both start with “And when you pray… Prayer is communion with God the Jesus states that an essential part of this communication is prayer, prayer is assumed.

How are we to pray and what are our prayers to be about? Matthew 6:9-15 is a well-defined pattern for prayer [The Lord’s Prayer]. Each phrase can be expanded upon. For example: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” First, we acknowledge our own guilt and repent. We should be sinless in our lives, but we fail so we constantly must seek God’s forgiveness. Second, God will only forgive if we forgive one another. How can we expect God to remove the debt of our sin [death] if we refuse to forgive those who have sinned against us? And this is stated in the plural ‘we’ of the Christian community, not ‘me’.

Should prayer(s) be spontaneous or formatted, prescribed? There is a place for both. On the spontaneous side are most Protestants where as on the Catholic side there are more prescribed prayers. Reading and using the prayers of others can be of great value. Relying solely on such prayer however, I believe can lead to lack of sincerity, become a sense of fulfilled duty vs. communion with the living Christ. Spontaneous or prayer based on “immediate needs and concerns” is valid but when used exclusively can easily become a “wish list” to God. Jesus gave us a pattern for a reason.

While I won’t go into details on the depth and wideness of the Lord’s prayer as listed in Matthew 6, there are patterns, an outline that lays out our approach to God. Discover what each phrase means and expand on it. Take the Lord’s prayer, isolate each phrase and write out your current understanding, know what it means and insert your feelings and desires. Then as a whole read it back to Jesus. This is a good practice.

Remember in developing our prayer life we are also [2 Tim. 2:15] to study the scriptures as a workman developing his craft.