PART TWO- GOD REWARDS PRAYER-But NO Double Dipping
In the United States and countries around the world, people get ahead by double dipping. They may work two jobs, work the system to get two pensions plus social security, and in some cases, illegally and immorally take two or more wives or two husbands in marriage.
TODAY, I am going to show you through the words of Jesus himself that God doesn’t double dip when it comes to hearing and rewarding our prayers. You either claim the reward for yourself here on earth or you depend on God to reward you supernaturally. The choice is yours.
In Part One of this “REWARD” series, we looked at when God rewards us through giving to God and others. In total, there are three specific areas Jesus addressed in Matthews 6 regarding when God rewards His people and when they “have no reward” (Matthew 6:1).
Those three areas include: 1) GIVING 2) PRAYER and 3) FASTING. Now that we have already addressed “GIVING” in the last episode, today we will discuss “PRAYER”.
Whether GIVING, PRAYING or FASTING, the principle of receiving God’s reward(s) are exactly the same in that He disallows “Double Dipping”. By this I mean that God disallows for us to claim our own reward by way of taking credit on earth as well as receive God’s reward directly from Him. It’s one or the other.
In Matthew 6, Jesus lays out for us when we are eligible for God’s reward or when we forfeit receiving that reward.
In Matthew 6:6-16, Jesus addresses when God rewards us through PRAYER. To clarify, God is not a vending machine that we can mechanically plug a prayer into and pop out some sort of supernatural response. On the contrary, God answers our prayers in His time, according to His will.
In Matthew, chapter 6, Jesus makes clear that when you pray, you must not pray hypocritically like the Pharisees did. The Pharisees like to stand and pray in public before all the people as some kind of group of privileged religious leaders “seen by others” (v.5).
REWARD RECIEVED PREMATURALLY
The consequence for their doing so means, “…THEY HAVE RECEIVED THEIR REWARD” (v.5).
In other words, Jesus makes clear that double-dipping is not allowed. You either get your own self-made rewards through attention, credit and worldly honor on earth, or you wait for God the Father to reward you in His way.
HOW THEN SHOULD WE PRAY
Jesus doesn’t leave us in the dark regarding how to pray but provides us a perfect model as to HOW we are to PRAY, saying this:
“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” (Matthew 6:6).
Let’s break this down to see exactly how we are to pray and receive God’s reward.
FIRST: We are to go into a private room where nobody will disturb us. In this way, we will not be disturbed, and we can speak freely and unhindered with God. The alternative is to pray in front of others publicly, drawing attention to ourselves. As a result, the “attention” received becomes the “reward”.
SECOND: We are to SHUT the door and pray to God in SECRET. When we go into our prayer closet, private room, or wherever we go to be in deep and intimate conversation and relationship with God, we need to do TWO things. First, SHUT the DOOR and Second, meet with God in SECRET; not with any other person(s). That said, there is a time and place for group prayer, but not when we meet with our Lord in private.
Jesus says that as a result, “And your prayer to your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (v. 6). But Jesus doesn’t stop there but goes on to give greater clarity as to how we are NOT to pray in that we are not to pray in a mechanical prefabricated fashion, saying:
“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. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (V.7-8).
HOW NOT TO PRAY BROKEN DOWN
FIRST: When we pray, we are not to pray from a memorized script, but from the heart and mind; laying out our praises to God and our burdens, our requests and our thankfulness to Him.
SECOND: We are not to use TOO MANY WORDS. Why? Because “Your Father (God) knows what you need before you ask him” (v8). God is “Infinite” and “All Knowing”. As such he knows the past, present and future as one. Furthermore, He knows what is in our heart and mind better than we do.
THIRD: Jesus goes on to give us a MODEL PRAYER in verse 9-13. Let’s ready that prayer.
Matthew 6:9-13 (ESV) " 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” (Matthew 6:9-13).
I am not going to break down in detail the components of this prayer but simply want to summarize them to say that the components are simply elements that should be present in our daily, organic prayer. The general idea of how Jesus is telling us to pray is that we should praise God, ask that His kingdom come and not our will be done. That God would provide us our daily bread, meaning the things we NEED as opposed to all the material things we want.
We are to pray daily for God’s forgiveness and that He give us the strength and wisdom to forgive others. Lastly, we are to submit our requests to God, including the request that God help us in our sinful nature to avoid TEMPTATION and deliver us from this evil world. In general, these are the key elements that we should pray organically daily.
LASTLY-DON’T BE DERAILED
Jesus closes out His counsel on prayer by being abundantly clear that we are to FORGIVE OTHERS-and that our failure to do so will not invoke God’s reward to us through prayer. Again, the focus on the loss and gain of God’s reward. This is how Jesus put it:
“FOR IF YOU FORGIVE OTHERS THEIR TRESPASSES, YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER WILL ALSO FORGIVE YOU, BUT IF YOU DO NOT FORGIVE OTHERS THEIR TRESPASSES, NEITHER WILL YOUR FATHER FORGIVE YOUR TRESPASSES” (Matthew 6:14)
Let’s keep in mind that the GREATEST REWARD is God’s forgiveness on our lives-covering our own sin.
IN CONCLUSION
God’s reward in and through prayer is very real. But we must remember that we cannot double dip and have it both ways. In other words, we cannot gain God’s reward and also self-proclaim or self-claim attention and worldly honor by our publicly praying and being outwardly religious. In other words, there is No Double Dip-Reward System with God.
The world is run by the prince of darkness (Satan) who rewards double dipping-but not God. In the United States and countries around the world, people often and sinfully get ahead by double dipping.
Today, we looked at the words of Jesus himself to understand the fact that God doesn’t allow us to double dip. In other words, we cannot trick God into giving us His reward if we have already taken that reward on earth through our own means. It simply doesn’t work that way.
Obtaining God’s reward starts with a proper understanding and implementation of the spiritual discipline of “PRAYER” as laid out by Jesus in Matthew, chapter 6. You either claim the reward for yourself on earth or you depend on God to reward you supernaturally in His way and in His time. The choice is yours.
