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 men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But 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. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do 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,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.' 14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Jesus gives His disciples and us assistance on praying...Jesus knew how to pray...For man it is different...Praying is a process...Very few us will have one prayer or a handful of prayers and say I nailed it, I don't have to pray any more...There is always more to learn in your prayers...We must not forget, Jesus continually prays throughout the Gospels...
Jesus wants us to know our Father is available...He is holy and in heaven...He wants us to pray for the Father's kingdom to come... Jesus wants us to depend on God, even for our daily bread...Our Father is the One who is supplying it...He wants us to forgive, because if we cannot forgive we cannot love...Those that forgive little, love little (Luke 7:47)...We are tempted daily and we need to pray for our Father's help...The evil one is always out there trying to trap us and we need to be wary of this, and ask our Father to help us against evil...
Jesus talks about our Father...He calls God our Father repeatedly...He doesn't call Him grandpa, grandfather, or uncle...Like a father, our Father is pleased with us and our prayers, but not satisfied with us...A grandfather is different than a father...Our fathers must make us mind, must be there for our failures, must watch us grow, must teach us right from wrong...They must be there for us all the time...Grandfathers and uncles can see our goodness (or see us for a few hours) and then leave...Not that they are not there for us, but the day in day out relationship of the father is different than that of other family members...This is in one reason why Jesus calls God, our Father...The relationship is a unique one...God sees us for who we are and knows everything about us...And even though He knows all the good and the bad, He still loves us...
He wants our communication...He wants our prayers like any father...He wants to hear from us...He wants to listen to us at anytime...It does not necessary to be in a time of need or suffering...Our fathers like to hear from us all times, good or bad...
Brother Lawrence, a French Monk (1611-1681), wrote on prayer in the sixteen hundreds...He tells us that we are doing something all the time, and go about our business...Brother Lawrence did not see a difference in prayer time and regular, non prayer time...Our focus in prayer is to love and delight ourselves in God...But we are always busy...We try to keep busy...We cannot allow our hectic day to get in the way of our prayers...But as Jesus taught us when Martha asks about Mary, who is at His feet, that she has chosen the better...Mary was focused on listening to Jesus...Martha was focused on keeping busy... Jesus tells us that focus on Him is the better...Learning His teachings is better, and putting God as our top priority is important...
God commands prayer...He does not need to pray...He created us...He is Almighty...Our Father sees we need prayer...He knows we are sinners...Our Father knows what we need before we even pray to Him...God is the only One in this world, that will never misunderstand us...Only God can see our potential in eternity...