Matthew 6:5-15
Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 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. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Jesus explains to us that our prayers to our Father should be down in a place of humility and sincerity and from the heart...Our prayers are about communicating with God and is not a place to be showing others how or how much we pray...Prayer is an intimate time with our Father and not a performance for others...
Jesus says it is good to pray in a quiet place free from distractions, which allows us a deeper focus on what we are asking and petitioning God for...Jesus often went to a solitary place to pray...
Our prayers should be sincere truly expressing our needs, and not a babbling of ideas of the top of our heads...Prayers are from our hearts...
We are to pray even though that God knows what we are going to pray for...Our Father knows what we need and will be asking of Him...Prayer is not a bargaining time with our LORD but a request from the heart...
And we are to learn to forgive...For if we do forgive other people when they sin against us, our heavenly Father will also forgive us...But if we do not learn to forgive others of their sins, our Father will not forgive our sins...This is much like learning to love our enemies...It is very difficult but let us better see things from their perspective...Let us not jump to conclusions or have a story about them in our thoughts that make them our enemy...Let us examine what might have led them to behave the way they did?...Are they struggling with their own pain or challenges?...This doesn't excuse their actions, but it can help lessen your own negative emotions and foster a sense of understanding...Them let us forgive them...