This Is How You Should Pray

The Lord’s Prayer was a prayer my grandmother taught me as a kid (Luke 11:1-4). I recited it as a nightly prayer before going to sleep. 

It was a regular custom for a rabbi to teach his disciples a prayer. John the Baptist taught his disciples, and here in this chapter, Jesus’s disciples wanted to learn from him. 

If you’ve sat in a group with others to pray, you’ve probably felt either insecure or inspired by their prayers. In Matthew 6:5-15, Jesus addresses the motives in our heart and what we need to have in our heart when it comes to prayer, whether publicly or privately. 

He understands the temptation to be self-righteous, self-focused, manipulative, prideful or concerned about what others think, when it comes to our prayers.

This is what Jesus teaches us about what we should pray for:

• We should approach God as a Father who delights in supplying the needs of his children. It’s a close relationship.

• We should remember that God’s name, Yahweh, encompasses his whole character, and for that we honor him and can put our trust in him.

• We are seeing God’s plan for our lives play out in this world.

• We can bring our needs before God and not worry about the future

• We are to request forgiveness for ourselves and others.

• We acknowledge the reality of future trials and temptations. We can go through and overcome them with God.

Jesus ends his lesson by teaching that we are praying to a loving father, and if we can meet the needs of a friend, then how much more can a perfect loving father meet our needs?

This chapter reminds me that God answers all prayers, the answer may not be the answer I desire or expect, but I can trust his love and wisdom as my father.