What the Bible Says About Prayer

We are all familiar with Matthew chapter six verses nine through thirteen. However, many have never read the verses that lead into verse nine. These verses give us insight and direction into how to pray AND how not to pray.

Let's start with verse five of Matthew chapter six. Jesus himself is speaking, "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."

So verse five tells us that we don't need to make a spectacle of ourselves when praying. The purpose of praying is to communicate with God, not show off how religious and pious you are.

Further instruction is given in the next verse, verse six. Again Jesus is speaking, "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

Jesus is telling us that it is ok to hide away and share your deepest thoughts with him. No one has to know that you pray and depend on him, as long as the Father knows. In verse six God himself is giving even the most macho of men a way to reach out to him. God is ok with the fact that you may not want the world to know that you pray.

Jesus continues in verse seven and eight, "But when ye pray, use not vain repetition, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like them "

What do we say when we pray if we shouldn't repeat Our Father or Hail Mary twenty times? Just talk, prayer is just communication with God. You can have a conversation with God as you would with a friend. As long as your prayer is sincere God will hear and answer your prayers.

Verse nine begins the Our Father prayer. "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name."

Hallowed be thy name, start your prayer with praise. Praise God for is faithfulness, his love, and whatever else you can think of that God has done for you. Who doesn't like to hear how wonderful they are and how great their deeds have been? God is the same way, he enjoys when we vocalize how much we appreciate him.

The prayer continues, "Thy kingdom come. They will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

"Thy will be done." Thy will, not my will. In other words, when you pray and make a request you want God's will to overcome your will. God knows best, when we think we know what is best for us we don't see the long term. God does. He knows the outcome of every decision you have made. If you truly want your life to improve, prayer for God to reveal his will to you before you make a decision.

"Give us this day our daily bread." Starting your day with prayer changes your whole attitude for the day. Why? Because God will give us "our daily bread" he knows what and who we will encounter each day. When we stop and pray God will give us the patience, compassion, and more that we will need to get us through today.

"Forgive us our debts." We are human and daily, if not hourly, we make mistakes and bad decisions. However, we can begin each day anew by praying for forgiveness for ourselves and remembering to pray for everyone around us.

Verse thirteen ends the pray, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen."

Prayer can deliver us from temptation and evil. What does that mean? It means that prayer will give us the tools and knowledge we need to recognize evil and avoid it. We are also given the strength to see and avoid temptation, whether your weakness is sex, drugs, money, etc. Prayer delivers us from our human character and helps us live a better life one day at a time.

"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory..." End your prayer with thanks and acknowledgment of what God has done for you. We send thank you cards for weddings, gifts, and more, but how often do we remember to stop and give thanks to God? Even if your life is not going well there is always something to be thankful for, we live on a beautiful planet, your alive, if your reading this you must have a computer, and the list could go on.

From today forward start your day with prayer and you will begin to see changes take place in your life. You no longer have the excuse that you don't know how to pray. It is up to you to decide to take a few minutes each morning to thank the God who put you on this earth.