Thought for August 6

 History:

• 1774: Mother Ann Lee arrives in America --founder of the Shaker Movement
• 1819: Norwich University founded in VT--1st private military school in US
• 1890: First execution via electric chair
• 1939: First Dinah Shore Show radio broadcast
• 1945: Atomic bom dropped on Hiroshima
• 1954: Channel 5 Nashville begins broadcasting
• 1965: Voting Rights Act signed
• 1997: Nashville Predators name Barry Trotz coach
• 2011: Seal Team 6 helicopter shot down in Afghanistan killing 38
• 2018: 65 people shot in Chicago in one weekend
• Born: Alfred Tennyson, Edith Roosevelt [Teddy's wife], Alexander Fleming [penicillin], Dutch Schultz, Lucille Ball, Robert Mitchum, Andy Warhol, David Robinson, 
• Died: Anne Hathaway [wife of Shakespeare], James Springer White [co-founder Seventh Day Adventist], Harry Reasoner, Louise Suggs [co-founder LPGA], Pete Fountain, 

Thought:

Continuing with the three outward practices that Jesus warns about in Matthew 6. Today He warns about praying for recognition. Matthew 6:5-13. Here Jesus begins with instruction and then provides an example for our use. Notice that when [again not if] we pray::

• Don't be a hypocrite, an actor putting on a show. Have you ever really thought about this verse when asked to publicly pray. Is my goal to say impressive words that will be heard and acknowledged by the audience or congregation? Do I use my prayer to communicate some truth or min-sermon to the people? Am I showing my knowledge of scripture so people we realize how familiar with the Bible I am? Or do I approach the throne of grace, speak only to the Father through the Son with the help of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is speaking to the Father and listening to Him, not speaking to people. 
• Is the only time I pray those times when others can hear and know that I pray, or does most of my prayer life occur in secret, in private, in those intimate minutes with the Father? If people heard my personal prayers, what would they think?
• Have you noticed 6:6--it says your Father sees in secret, not that He hears in secret. I'm not sure why God sees our prayers, but I think what it means to me is that He sees my attitude and purpose in prayer then He hears my prayer. So the attitude  with which i approach the throne changes how He hears what I say. 
• Don't be meaninglessly repetitive. So don't just say words over and over. However, I can be meaningfully repetitive--this is persistence in prayer. Many of us have prayed for something for years. 
• Understand that God knows what you need. Many times He needs me to admit what I need---I can't continue in my own strength; I lack the wisdom to know what to do; I must confess the sins for which I beg forgiveness. But telling Him over and over what I need is a waste of time. I have learned that prayer really begins when I stop talking and listen. 
• I can ask God how to pray about something. The disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray [Luke 11:1]. Often we just don't know how to pray for someone or about something. God invites us to ask Him how to pray. And He answers that prayer--Luke 12:12 and John 14:26.

So our prayer today is Lord teach us how to pray.

Blessings

Larry