Day 21

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. Matthew 6:6

We usually place value on prayer being answered, but Jesus places value on prayer being rewarded. He gave a pattern of prayer that would be rewarding. What is the nature of the reward Jesus is talking about? There are three significant ways in which prayer is rewarded.

Firstly, prayer brings us into communion with God. He began with, "Our Father in heaven…" This is the first time in the Bible God is ever addressed as 'Father' in this personal filial way. God is called 'Father' in the Old Testament in a metaphorical sense, as the Father of creation, but the Jewish people never addressed God as their Father in this personal way. God has only one Son, and it is by our union with Christ that we are able to address him as Father. It is true to say that when Christ becomes our Saviour, God becomes our Father in that we become united to Christ and share His sonship with all the privileges a child has with their father.

Secondly, prayer brings us into alignment with God. The second two clauses are: "Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth…" Our will becomes aligned with the will, and our purpose with His purposes. We are not asking him to join us in what we would like but affirming that we join Him in what he would like. This aligns our will with His will.

Thirdly, prayer brings us into provision from God. There are three personal requests: "Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one." This presents our physical, moral, and spiritual needs. Physically, God provides today what we need for today, our daily bread. Morally, forgiveness is available to us we extent forgiveness to those who have offended against us. Spiritually, we look to deliverance from the evil one, in whom we are in constant battle.

Communion with God, alignment with God, and provision from God are the rewards of prayer. How God answers our specific requests are secondary to the value of prayer itself.