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 teaches us about prayer...He tells us when we 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...Prayer is to done quietly and to God...Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full...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...And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words...Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him...An example of a prayer by Jesus is “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven...Give us today our daily bread...And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors...And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’...
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you...But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins...
Oswald Chambers was a nineteen century Scottish Baptist and teacher...Oswald said these things about prayer...“The whole meaning of prayer is that we may know God.”...“We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties.”...“Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.”...“Don't forget to pray today because God did not forget to wake you up this morning.”...“Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God.”...“We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.”...“What a blessed habit I have found my prayer list, morning by morning, it takes me via the Throne of all Grace straight to the intimate personal heart of each one mentioned here, and I know that He Who is not prescribed by time and geography answers immediately.”...“To say that 'prayer changes things' is not as close to the truth as saying, 'prayer changes me and then I change things.' God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things.”...“Moods never go by praying, moods go by kicking...A mood nearly always has its seat in the physical condition, not in the moral.”...“Prayer is the battle; it is a matter of indifference where you are...Whichever way God engineers circumstances, the duty is to pray.”...“Think of the last thing you prayed about—were you devoted to your desire or to God?...Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or to get to God?...“For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8)...The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better...“Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4)...We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.”...
And Chambers adds something about prayer that I need to know and learn better: “We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense...We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all...Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results...We don't want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of 'good time' is seldom in sync with ours.”...