Notes of Faith August 4, 2025
A Penny for Your Prayers
And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites.
Matthew 6:5
Visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago saw a machine that took a penny and pressed a design of the Lord’s Prayer into it. The coin would no longer be round but oval-shaped. In the mid-1900s, self-service machines like this showed up at vacation spots and amusement parks. Some machines would also press nickels, dimes, quarters, and half-dollars into Lord’s Prayer tokens. These are collector’s items now, but we all know that a prayer on a smashed coin isn’t the same as a prayer from a sincere heart.
The Lord’s Prayer shows us that we are not to pray like the heathen. While there are many ways to pray—using written prayers, singing hymns addressed to God, using memorized prayers—it’s important that we pray sincerely and thoughtfully. The Lord wants to hear our heartfelt cries of praise and petition. The Lord hears every single sigh and syllable of our heartfelt prayers, and He goes to work providing the answers we need.
Trust Him, and make sure your heart and mind are working together in approaching the throne of grace.
In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.
John Bunyan
Matthew 6:1-13
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6But 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.
7“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. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us this day our daily bread,
12and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
10“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood and was praying these things to himself…
13But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The Lord knows our hearts and our needs and still wants the intimacy of prayer with us. Do you think that He listens to a conceited heart as with the Pharisee? Or do you realize that He wants our heart to be aligned with His will for us and the world around us. Our focus should be on God Himself and others first before ourselves. Again, the Lord knows our needs and even the words we will pray before they are thought or spoken! May our prayers come from the heart and not be vain repetitions!
Pastor Dale