Expert: Marvin Howard - 9/27/2010

Question
Can a any male pray over food baptized or not outside the assembly of worship or do we all have to pary by ourselves.  Please provide scripture. Thank you

Answer
Hi!

Laura, thank you for the opportunity to serve you in this capacity. Prayer is an involved subject. I do not know your present level of knowledge. Often, when a question on prayer is answered, it will bring another question. To circumvent this, I want to include a sermon I did on the subject of prayer. Most of your question, save one point, is covered herein. I will address that point after the sermon.

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The Doctrines of Man vs. The Doctrine of God

Part IX: Teach Us to Pray (A Contextual Breakdown of “The Lord's Prayers”)

Many different teachings exist on many different Bible subjects in the world. The aim of this series is to look at various doctrines, and decide whether they be from God or man. Once again, as always, I am a man and fallible. Check scripture with me for yourselves to see if these things are so.

This month, we are going to examine prayer in our lives. There are many different methods out there. There is kneeling. There is standing. There is sitting. There is lying in a bed. There is hiding in a closet. There is prayer coupled with fasting. There is praying in the name of Jesus. There is praying to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is praying to dead saints. People are commanded to say "Our Father's" and "Hail Mary's" when they sin. Are any of these correct? Are they all correct? Are any of these false doctrines?

In Luke 11:1, one of the disciples asked Jesus, "Teach us to pray." We all have a natural inclination to pray. Through the ages, even those not acknowledging God; have prayed to their fathers or rock statues. Yet, the disciples knew the correct way to pray had to be taught.

NOW HEAR YE THE WORD OF THE LORD as recorded in Luke 11:1-4:

"And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil."

Matthew gives us another account of this instruction.

NOW HEAR YE THE WORD OF THE LORD as recorded in Matthew 6:5-13:

"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites [are]: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."

This "prayer" of our Lord is called, by the world, the Lord's Prayer. Saying it is called saying an "Our Father" in catholicism. It is assigned, in various quantities, as punishment for sins. However, they grossly misunderstand this. He is not praying here, but teaching. Does this mean the Lord did not pray? No! He prayed several times we have recorded for us. The most often quoted "true" Lord's Prayer is here.

NOW HEAR YE THE WORD OF THE LORD as recorded in Matthew 26:36-44:

"Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou [wilt]. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed [is] willing, but the flesh [is] weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words."

This was so important to our Messiah he prayed it three times. Let us compare the prayer with the teaching that we may learn how to pray.

In both, we find our Lord begin by addressing the Father. He did not address His Mother. He didn't address His ancestors. He didn't address godly people who had lived before Him. He did not even address Himself. Many people try praying to Jesus. This is a mistake. We are not to pray "to" Him, but "through" Him, as He is our only mediator (Hebrews 8:6 9:15 and 12:24). Nothing is ever said about a mediatrix until man invented it several hundred years after the fact. So much for the practice of saying "Hail Mary's." A little redundancy does not hurt if it serves a purpose; He addressed The Father!

In both, He made His petitions for physical things known. This is regardless of personal desires. Even though those physical things in the real prayer were against the Will of the Father, He made them known. Nevertheless, He was willing to submit if the Father told Him, "No." Never once did He pray for frivolous things, such as money. He prayed for His human life. He prayed for things with spiritual consequences.

In both, the accomplishment of the Father's will is requested.

Jesus, in Matthew's account, teaches prayer is to be a private thing, to be done by one body. This is evidenced with the reference to the closet. Does this preclude prayer in public? It can. However, there are instances where it does not. One, you may give thanks for a meal in public, provided you maintain the privacy aspect of that prayer by not calling attention to the fact you are praying. Two, there is "public," corporate prayer used in worship. This is acceptable, as one body (the church) in a place secluded from the world does it.

Now, let's look at the difference between the two, and the reason for it, for there is a major difference.

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus taught the disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come." At that time, there were still approximately three years before the arrival of the kingdom. Jesus knew, being God, the kingdom was about to arrive (less than two months away) while in Gethsemane. There was no need for Him to ask for this in His prayer. So, should we pray today, "Thy kingdom come?"

As covered in my fifth and my sixth archived sermons on my website, the apostle John was "in the Kingdom" (Revelation 1:9). To pray for the coming of the kingdom today, is to deny the existence of the group of which John was a member. In other words, if your group prays for the coming of the kingdom, it does not allow itself to be the group of which John was a member; the one church spoken of in Ephesians 4 and my second archived sermon. Let's face the facts! Some people, no matter how loud their protestations to the contrary that they are such, simply do not allow themselves to be in the one body, which the Lord will save. I am sorry this is the case, but the evidence is irrefutable.

We now know we are not to pray for the same things (exactly) as in the model, for not all is still valid. So, what can this teach us?
I find four types of things within this model that should be included in our prayers.

1. Address
2. Praying for the will of the Father
3. Thanksgiving
4. Petitions

NOW HEAR YE THE WORD OF THE LORD as recorded in Colossians 3:17:

"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him."

Prayers are something we do in words. Therefore, they fall into a category listed by this passage. This necessarily places a fifth element in our prayers.

5. Acknowledgement of the authority of Jesus (in His name) for the prayer

Do you see that? We are to pray in the name of Jesus! Nothing is said about praying in the name of the Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost! We are nowhere commanded to make the sign of the ankh, (emblematic of the internal reproduction systems of the Egyptian, fertility goddesses) over our hearts, and imply it is Christian!

We are told people lifted their hands in prayer in 2nd Timothy 2:8.

Jesus laid on the ground (prostrate) for His prayers (above).
Obviously, then, posture has nothing to do with the content of the prayer. When someone commands us to assume a certain posture, he (or she) is binding where God did not bind. Suggestions are all right, but commands are not.

People are taught today to say the same prayers, repeatedly. Children are taught certain prayers. How many of us know, "Now I lay me down to sleep?" How many know, "God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food." Some people hold little idols in their hands and count a bead for each prayer they say, to make sure they say enough rote prayers. We are told this is the way to assist people in remembrance. This is a tradition. Is it bad? They are more worried about the bead counting than the words issuing from their mouths. Bead counting is found in religions such as Buddhism. It is not found in scripture; therefore, it is not a part of Christianity! Every time these people take these idols in their hands for use, they proclaim to the world what their true religious preference is. What did Jesus say?

Matthew 6:7, "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking."

It is not Christians who are to say rote prayers: heathens do! Look at the groups claiming to try pleasing God, yet they are heathens. By saying them over and over, and someone knowing about it, they are "much speaking," and their prayers are in vain! I know this is an old term. Most people today want to apply this to appearance in some way. It does not. Vain means "empty" or "meaningless." Rote prayers are empty! They have no content! They have no meaning before the Lord! In my opinion, thinking we are doing something pleasing to our creator, having been fooled into it, and it be empty and meaningless, is a bad thing.

In 1st Corinthians 14:33-40, we find commands relating to "in the churches." In the conclusion, we see that all things are to be done “decently, and in order.” This applies to our prayers, as well, for they are a "thing" "in the churches." We are not to pray at the top of our lungs, running up and down the aisles! This is confusion, and condemned according to this passage. Likewise, we are not to lie in the floor and flop around like a dying fish while praying (or anytime in worship for that matter) for its design is solely to draw attention to one's self.

So, then, can only people who have been taught these things be allowed to pray? God Forbid! Even knowing this, we cannot pray correctly.

Romans 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

In the same manner we trust grace to cover our mistakes (sins) after our salvation if we walk in the light (do our best), we are to trust the grace of the Spirit to fill in our blanks and cover our mistakes if we are saved and are doing our best. Allowing new Christians to take part in this is not only allowed as a part of the learning process, it is encouraged. It takes a great amount of courage to stand before the public and preach. It takes even more to lead them in prayer. This "trial by fire," if you will allow that expression, can do nothing but sharpen the iron of the new Christian, making him stronger.

Teaching people to pray is necessary. If we accidentally forget to pray for something, the Spirit picks up our slack. Teaching how to pray correctly is crucial. To teach something else is to say God's Word is not adequate.

God said to hear Jesus. Hear Him will you? Don't shut His words out at the behest of men like Calvin, Luther, Wesley, Zwingli, Smith, Smyth, Rutherford, Lucado, and Spurgeon. Don't listen to the self-proclaimed "god-men." All popes claim to be Christ (God) on earth when they claim to be vicar (which only meant substitute or replacement when they first used the word). God spoke to you already. He isn't going to say more.

Will you listen?  Will you not come as we sing this song of encouragement?

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This covered prayer in public. It covered prayers for meals. What it did not cover is the prayer of a non-Christian. The answer to this point is dependant on the status of the non-Christian. Is this person safe or lost?

Isaiah 59:1-2, "Behold, Jehovah's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not hear."

If the person is safe (not yet accountable for sins), they must be taught how to pray. If a person is lost, his prayers will not be heard.

In the end, family prayer at a restaurant is acceptable, so long as attention is not called to it. Individual prayers are also authorized; with the same stipulation. All of these must be done by people who are either safe or saved in order to be heard and accepted.

Laura, again, let me say what a pleasure it is to see someone seeking truth. Stay after it. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to ask.

In His Service,
Marvin Howard