How To Pray
Matthew 6:5-15
Prayer can be a difficult action to perform because we may not know how to pray to God. Luke 11:1– Prayer is offering our words to God.
How Not To Pray, Matthew 6:5-8
- Do not pray like the ____________ (vs. 5) To be seen by people
- Instead, pray in your private room (vs. 6) Jesus says to shut the door and pray in private to the Lord. 1 Timothy 2:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 So what is Jesus teaching?
- Our prayer life is not to consist of ________ prayer only.
- Our prayer life is not for ________ _____________.
- Do not pray like the Gentiles (vs. 7) Jesus also teaches we are not to pray like the heathen, like the Gentiles. What were the Gentiles doing wrong?
- Praying _____ _____________.
- Making ___________ prayers.
How To Pray, Matthew 6:9-15
- Pray then in this way (vs. 9) This does not mean to recite this prayer.
- First, if that is what he meant, then he is violating what he said two verses earlier to not pray with vain repetition.
- Second, Jesus did not say to his disciples in teaching them to pray to use exactly these words. He said his disciples ought to pray in this manner.
- Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name (vs. 9) “Hallowed” is similar to the word “holy,” meaning to separate from profane/common things and dedicate to God. God is holy. His name is holy and he is deserving of our awe and reverence for he is in heaven.
- Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven (vs. 10) The pattern here tells us we need to pray according to the will of God.
- Give us this day our daily bread (vs. 11) Now we can ask God for the needs of this day.
- And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors (vs. 12, 14) Now Jesus tells us to pray for the forgiveness of sins.
- And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (vs. 13) We need to ask God for deliverance from temptation, to help us with our weaknesses, and to strengthen us against the works of the devil.
- 1 Corinthians 10:13, There is a way of escape available we can avoid temptation. We need to pray for God to help us take advantage of the way of escape and we will not succumb to the devil
We are encouraged by the Lord to pray to Him about anything that is happen in our lives.
