How to Pray by David Jeremiah

Tuesday, May 30

How to Pray 

In this manner, therefore, pray… 
Matthew 6:9a 

Recommended Reading Matthew 6:5-8

One of the best ways to describe Christianity has always been to say it is not a religion but a relationship. And nowhere is that more evident than in the way Jesus taught His disciples to pray.

The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 needs to be read in its context to understand what Jesus was saying to His disciples (then and now). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus draws attention to the formal religion of the Jews which had ceased to be a close and personal relationship with God. He pointed out many ways in which religious rituals had taken the place of intimacy with God—for example, prayer. Just before teaching His disciples how to pray, Jesus called religious leaders hypocrites for praying lengthy prayers in public to impress others. By contrast, Jesus told the disciples to pray to their Father in private using the words of the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father in heaven”—a prayer that offers the simple language of intimacy and relationship.

What was good for disciples then is good for disciples now. You can pray in the words of the Lord’s Prayer or simply follow its clear and simple themes. Jesus’ model prayer is a way to keep your relationship with God on a Father-to-child basis.

The spirit of prayer is the fruit and token of the Spirit of adoption. 
John Newton