Matthew 6:8 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Be not ye therefore like unto them— This argument would be forcible against all prayer in general, if prayer were considered only as a means of making our wants known to God; whereas it is no more than an act of obedience to our heavenly Father, who has commanded us to pray to him, chap. Matthew 7:7 and made it a condition of his favours; an expression of our trust in him, and dependence on his goodness, whereby we acknowledge, that all the benefits we receive come from him, and that we must apply to him for the attainment of them. "These words, says Dr. Heylin, are highlyinstructive, and may serve to give us a solid and practical knowledge of the true nature of prayer." The proper end of prayer is not to inform God of our wants; omniscient as he is, he cannot be informed: the only thing wanting is a fit disposition on our part to receive his grace; and the proper office of prayer is, through the merit of Christ and the grace of his Spirit, to produce such a disposition in us, as to render us proper subjects for pardoning and sanctifying grace to work in; or, in other words, to remove the obstacles which we ourselves put to his goodness. Now the principal obstacles are, worldly-mindedness and self-love; whereby our desires cleave to earthly goods and corrupt selfish interests:but in prayer we suspend these desires, our heart being through grace turned so God only; and by whatever means we attain such a holy posture of mind, they are the proper means of true devotion. As long as our minds are attentive to God only, by whatever sentiment that attention is maintained, so long we pray. When such attention flags, we must renew it by passing on to some other consideration proper to keep our heart attached to God through Christ, and open to receive his pardoning or sanctifying communications.