Matthew 6:5 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synoguogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full."

The hypocrites, they pray to be seen. He seeks an audience when he speaks to God. This act of godliness looks pure on the outside but the motive of the heart is far from the words. The words may praise God but the heart is seeking only for his own praise. Their heart is far from true worship to God, true humility before him. And their reward has no more depth than their prayer.

The next verse exemplifies how we are to pray instead. "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).

I don't think that the proper application of this verse is to never pray in front of others. But it is defiantly an exhortation to check the motives before prayer. Doing to be seen by others is hypocrisy, as it is praising God with the mouth, but the heart being far from him. When I worship or pray with other beleivers I need to focus on God and not be self conscious of the others around me. I dont need to be so careful to use nice words and language, all that needs to be said are words of sincerity from the heart.

This sincere prayer, when the consciousness of God is on the fore front of the mind even when praying in front of man, will come easily when praying in private is already a habit. When I regularly take time to go by myself and pray, my motive will not be so tainted by man's approval and I will be able to pray sincerly from the heart.

I desire to apply this personally next time I pray in front of others by being intentional about keeping the consciousness of a God on my mind instead of the people I am praying in front of.