Matthew 6:5-13

I love how Jesus continues to subtly tell us what we are supposed to be doing. For instance, notice His use of the word when instead of if. We are supposed to give, as mentioned yesterday, and we are supposed to pray—the topic of today.

Again, Jesus exposes those who pray in public in order to draw attention to themselves. The purpose of prayer is to get God’s attention, not people’s attention. We are not praying to people; we are praying to God. He is the only One who can move heaven and earth on our behalf.

Prayer is an intimate matter, best done in private—much like giving—and our Father, who sees everything, will reward us.

Jesus then gives us this instruction: when we pray, we are not to babble on and on… ? This emoji just came to mind as a possible facial expression from Jesus, like, “There they go again, saying a whole lot of nothing…”—in love, of course! Why did He say babble and emphasize on and on? It wasn’t a compliment.

Prayer is powerful when done correctly. There is a right way and a wrong way to pray, and Jesus is giving us practical guidance on how to pray.

Don’t be too wordy—get to the point.

Kenneth Hagin was once asked how much time he spent praying each day. He responded that he didn’t spend a long time praying, but he also didn’t go a long time without praying.

Prayer is continual communication with the Father. It is an intimate time where we bare our hearts before the Lord and talk to Him about our concerns. We come to Him on the basis of His Word, reminding Him of His promises, asking for grace as we patiently endure certain things until our breakthrough comes.

Jesus then gives us a template of sorts for prayer in what has become known as the Lord’s Prayer. Yet once again, we have gone and immortalized a prayer that was meant to serve as an example, not something to be repeated verbatim.

The Lord’s Prayer is concise and to the point:
* “Our Father in heaven” — Our prayer is addressed to our mutual Father.
* “May Your name be kept holy” — We come to Him with reverence.
* “May Your Kingdom come soon” — We must understand our role in this. His will is to be done on earth as it is in heaven—through us. What needs to look more like heaven in our lives and in the lives of others?
* “Give us today the food we need” — This is a daily acknowledgment that He is our Source and Provider.
* “Forgive us…as we have forgiven others” — We are not to ask for forgiveness we are unwilling to give. Put another way, the forgiveness extended to us will be in the same measure we extend to others. That is worth pausing and reflecting on.
* “Don’t lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” — Notice Jesus references not just evil, but the evil one, acknowledging our common enemy. Satan sets traps for us, and we must walk in wisdom and discernment that comes only from God to avoid his snares.

This prayer will look different each day as we face different challenges, but the template is sound. It covers our basic needs for any given day and should be prayed daily.

Remember, it is not if we pray—but when we pray.