In Ephesians 6:18, the Apostle Paul says to pray at all times and on every occasion. The question then is how do we pray? Jesus addresses this topic on the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 6:5-13

Prayer should be to God. (Matthew 6:5-6)

• Don’t pray in front of people using the words “hath, thou, thine, wilt” unless you normally speak in this way.
• There is a difference between praying “in” public versus praying “for” the public. The difference is who are you trying to impress: God or the public?
• I have prayed before the city council and at business mixers, parties, sporting events, etc. I pray to God and disregard what they think.
• You don’t have to pray pretty words or even whole sentences! Your prayer should be to God and from the heart.

Prayer should be sincere. (Matthew 6:7-8)

• A perfect example is listening to someone sing the national anthem. You know those who sing for the country and those who sing for a record deal.
• If the American public can tell the difference between sincerity and fakeness, how much more can our heavenly Father tell the difference?
• The length of the prayer does not matter; it’s the sincerity that counts.
• My prayers are nothing to write home about, but I mean them.
• Start praying from a sincere heart by telling God exactly how you feel. He already knows what you are thinking, so you might as well unload on him. You will probably find it very therapeutic and comforting.

Prayer should be practiced. (Matthew 6:9-13)

• This will take some discipline, so use a reminder. Pray whenever you hear sirens or at a certain time of day. Pray whenever you hear certain songs on radio. Be creative!
• Tell the Lord, “As often as you remind me, I will pray.”
• You may ask, “If the Lord already knows what we are thinking, then why pray?” That would be like me saying, “My wife knows I love her, why should I tell her?” I have a growing relationship with my wife and we communicate daily. We should have a growing relationship with God and we should communicate with him daily.
• The Lord’s Prayer should be a sample not a substitute.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 7th, 2010 at 6:00 pm and is filed under cbc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.