Prayer

May 16, 2022

Devotions:

          “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. 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. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:5-8‬ ‭KJV‬‬

          Some people say prayers just to get attention and say, “Look at how spiritual I am.” Their reward is people’s acknowledgement. We are not to live for people’s praise but for God’s praise.

          Jesus said to go into our closet to pray or bridal chamber. Our prayer life is to be a time of intimacy with God not a time of formal request as a servant would give his master. We are to talk to God as our Father. We are to commune with Him as a son.  We approach God convinced of His love for us and sure of His desire for us to receive of His goodness for us. He does not hear us because we repeat a prayer a thousand times or a hundred times or even ten times. He hears our prayers because we can pray in faith because we pray according to His will. God knows about our every need before we ask and He cares about those needs. He wants us to ask knowing His willingness to meet those needs and concerns. Prayer is a personal matter not to show off to the public.