How Should We Pray?

To understand how to pray, we must ask ourselves a question. Who would know best how to communicate with God?

If we are honest with ourselves, the only answer to that question, is God. God knows best how to communicate with God.

If only God knows best how to communicate with him, how do we get that knowledge and understanding from God. If we don't know how to communicate with God, how do we communicate with God so we can learn to communicate with God? Wow!

Good News

There's good news, and it was sent from God, by way of his Son Jesus, to teach us how to communicate with God.

That's right! God in his Son teaching the world how to communicate with himself. Let's look into that a bit more.

Get Alone With God

In Matthew chapter 6 verse 6, Jesus says, "But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you".

That is the first thing God tells us about praying. If we get that wrong, our communication with God is affected adversely.

We must be alone with God, in order to pray to him without the influence of others (Peer pressure). When we pray around others, our minds tend to wander to what they may be thinking or hearing, and so we may speak things simply because we know they are listening.

Being concerned with how man hears while we are speaking to God can make our prayer to God impure and unacceptable.

Be Careful What You Say

In Matthew chapter 6 verses 7 and 8, Jesus says, "And when you pray, do no heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."

The fewer the words the better. God prefers that we speak less and listen more when communicating with him. God was pointing that out to us here, through Jesus.

What God Wants To Hear

In Matthew chapter 6 verses 9 through 13, Jesus says, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever, Amen".