Prayer Is Blessing

⁵ “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. ⁶ But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. ⁷ “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. ⁸ So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. ⁹ “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ¹⁰‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹‘Give us this day our daily bread. ¹²‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors ¹³‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]

MATTHEW 6:5-13

To grow in our spiritual life, we need to practice spiritual disciplines such as prayer, fasting, giving, Bible reading, fellowship, attending a small group, etc. Of all the disciplines, prayer is the most central because it is an intimate time in the presence of God and communing with Him. The one thing that the disciples of Jesus asked Him to teach them – it was not to do miracles, or to cast out demons, or to even heal the sick, but how to pray (Luke 11:1). They possibly saw that Jesus’ prayer life had a direct correlation with His power.

WHEN WE PRAY (MATTHEW 6:5–8)

To be good followers of Jesus, we need to improve in our discipline of prayer. Jesus taught His disciples that when they pray:

Do not pray like the hypocrites who pray for public show (v.5). Jesus is not against public prayer, but He warns us that anything spiritual and sacred like prayer can be corrupted to impress people.

Pray privately away from distractions (v.6) such as digital gadgets, media, or noisy surroundings. Go to a private place and pray. Prayer is intimacy with God, communing with Him, listening and talking to Him. God speaks to us when we pray. Sadly, some of us do not have the privilege to hear God’s voice because we are too busy and distracted. Furthermore, prayer is not asking God to change His mind and meet our terms. It is more about changing our desires to be aligned with His will.

Do not pray with meaningless repetitions (v.7–8). Almost all religions practice repetitive and memorized prayer leading people to think that doing so have a higher chance of getting prayers answered. But, in reality, God is not after our words, he is more concerned with what is in our heart. The secret of prayer is having a relationship with God who is our Father in heaven — a father who already knows our needs before we even pray (v.8).

HOW DO WE PRAY? (MATTHEW 6:9–13)

The prayer that Jesus taught will unlock many blessings including the following:

Personal intimacy (v.9). Notice how it begins with a father-and-child relationship. If imperfect earthly fathers care for their children, how much more our Heavenly Father. Many may not be able to relate with this because of bad experiences with their earthly fathers, but true followers of Jesus have the peace and security of speaking to a heavenly father who loves us and wants the best for His children. Also, when we have a relationship with God our Father, our desire is to glorify His name and not to put it in shame.

Perspective (v.10). It changes our perspective on how we see things. If we see prayer as a duty, we will never enjoy it. But if we see that God is not only our Father who knows what is best for us, but also the King whose kingdom will come one day, then it will be our delight to pray, ‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done’. If we do not have the eternal perspective of the Kingdom of God, we will fall in love with temporal things of this world (Revelation 11:15; Daniel 7:27)

Priorities. Our perspective is connected to our values and our priorities. Our perspective will change our purpose and it will align our priorities with what is most important to God which includes spreading the gospel (Matthew 24:14). If we belong to the kingdom of darkness, our values are also there, but once we belong to the kingdom of God, our values and priorities change accordingly (Colossians 1:13–14).

Provisions (v.11-12). It gives us amazing divine provisions according to our needs. Why did Jesus teach us to pray for our daily bread? Our human nature is to ask God for a lifetime of needs. But Jesus is teaching us to depend on God day by day (Exodus 16:4,19–20) because He has promised to provide for all our needs just on the right time. This is also why God commands us not to worry about the future (Matthew 6:33–34). If we keep worrying, perhaps we really do not know the Lord as our Father because we are unable to trust His promise of taking good care of us.
Our greatest spiritual need is forgiveness by God, and the second greatest spiritual need is forgiving others (Matthew 6:14–15). We cannot have power in prayer if we still sin by refusing to be forgiving of other people.

Protection (v.13). It tells us we need protection and supernatural strength in order to overcome temptations and persevere amidst hardship and trials (James 1:12; Mark 14:38). When we are tempted, take a few minutes to pause and pray, and have God deliver you from temptations.

- from 4W's