How To PrayHow to Pray
Jesus taught us how to pray in Matthew 6:6. He said that we must pray with the right motive if our prayer is to be heard. That motive is to pray to be heard by God. Matthew 6:6 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Look At Three Things
There are three preliminary things to look at here.
First, there must be a willingness to take time to pray: "When you pray." There has to be the will to pray. The believer must take time to get alone and pray.
Too few ever take time to pray, and even fewer spend more than a few minutes in prayer.
Too many stay all wrapped up in the world and its day-to-day affairs, some of which are necessary, but how much more necessary is prayer!
Second, a closet, or private place is a necessity. The believer must have a private place deliberately chosen for prayer.
Third, there must be a personal relationship with God: a Father-son relationship is absolutely essential. God is our Father; He is available as fathers are available to their children. We are to go to Him, pray, share, commune and let Him shower us with His care and protection and meet our every need (Psalm 91:1).
Pray To Be Heard By God Not Man
Christ says that a man who is genuine prays to be heard by God and not by men. How to pray is to direct prayers to God.
Pray In Your Private Place
The place he chooses for prayer is in his private closet. Christ says: "Get alone"; "Enter your closet...shut your door." Be unobserved, undisturbed, and unheard.
· Get alone: unobserved—out of everyone's sight.
· Get alone: undisturbed—avoid interruptions and disturbances.
· Get alone: unheard—concentrate and meditate to allow God the freedom to work in your heart as He wishes.
The reason the believer prays in his private closet is because God is in secret (seeMatthew 6:4). Note two significant facts on how to pray as taught by Jesus.
· God "is in secret"; therefore, a person can meet God only in secret.
Even in the midst of a worshipping crowd, a person must concentrate and focus his attention upon God who is unseen.
There must be a secret heart-to-heart meeting and communion if a person wishes to pray and truly share with God.
· God "is in secret"; therefore, He is not interested in show, but in substance. Show is before men. Substance is found in the secret, quiet, meditative place.
Remember: everything that exists began with an idea, and the development of the idea came from private and quiet thought and meditation, not out in the public before people—at least not often.
The same is true of spiritual matters. Spiritual show takes place before people, but spiritual substances or qualities that really matter take place in secret.
The believer pours out his heart and receives his greatest encouragement and strength in the secret place of the Most High, not in the public places of mere man.
Few Pray In Secret – Most Pray On The Run
Many pray on the run; few pray in secret. Many people have not learned, or have not been taught, how to pray.
Why do so few have a quiet time, a daily worship and devotional time?
Why do so few keep their daily appointment with God?
This is one of the most difficult things in the world to understand in light of who God is, and in light of man's desperate plight and need. No man would ever fail to keep his appointment with the state leader of his nation.
Many say they do not have the time, so they do not take the time. But in all honesty, it takes only a little effort to get up a while earlier in the morning—if they are really all that pressed for time.
All they need to do is to rearrange their schedule to allow for a quiet time just as they arrange for any other important meeting.
A Matter Of Discipline And Priority
However, few do this; therefore, they are without excuse. Many believers are faithful in meeting God daily. It is just a matter of discipline and priority – a willingness to learn how to pray.
Most have the time; they just do not take the time. They neglect getting alone with God consistently.
Many Have Not Been Taught
Many have not been taught the importance and benefit of a quiet time with God every day; they have not been taught how to pray. This is a justified accusation against Christian parents, preachers, and teachers.
So few have practiced and stressed what they have always heard about the importance of prayer.
The silence of believers and their failure to reach the world in sound doctrine is unbelievable, especially after two thousand years.
Some have not yet learned to discipline themselves and to be consistent in their spiritual lives.
A Daily Quiet Time Teaches Discipline
There is no better area to learn discipline and consistency than in a daily quiet time. A person should just begin and do it.
When a day is missed, a person should flee discouragement, "forgetting those things which are behind," and reach forth to a new day and begin again. Eventually, consistency and discipline will be learned, and the person's soul will be fed with the "unsearchable riches of Christ".
The Rewards
The reward of the genuine prayer warrior for learning how to pray is open blessings. The praying believer will be rewarded in two very special ways.
1. The strength and presence of God will be upon his life (Ezra 8:22;1 Peter 5:6). God's presence is unmistakable. There is a difference between a person who walks in God's presence and a life that walks only in this world (Matthew 6:25-34, esp.Matthew 6:33).
God rewards the praying believer with His presence and blessings. The believer's needs, material and spiritual, are met day by day.
2. The believer's prayers will also be answered (Matthew 21:22;John 16:24;1 John 5:14-15). The answers to prayer are clearly seen by a thinking and honest observer. God has promised to answer the true prayer of a genuine believer. God takes care of the genuine believer with a very special care.
How God’s Answers Are Seen
Sometimes the answer is seen... • in a renewed strength. "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Ephes. 3:20).
• in a provision of some necessity. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).
• in a conquest of some great temptation or trial. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13).
• in a peace that passes all human understanding. "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7).
• in a soundness of mind that is incomprehensible. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7).
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