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Matthew 6:6 |
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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.
Note 27 at Mt. 6:6: Jesus is certainly not speaking against public prayer, as can be seen by His example (Lk. 23:34; Jn. 11:41-42; 12:26-30; Jn. 17) and the example of many other great men of God (David--1 Chr. 29:10-19; Solomon--2 Chr. 6:12- 7:1; Jehoshaphat--2 Chr. 20:5-13; Ezra--Ezra 9:4-10:1; Daniel- -Dan. 6:10; the disciples--Acts 1:24; 4:23-30; 12:12; 13:3; Paul and Silas--Acts 16:25; etc.). He is simply stressing that our motivation behind prayer should not be to gain recognition from men (cp. with note 26 at Mt. 6:3, above).
