Putting It All Together
So, how exactly are we supposed to pray?
Verse of the Day
“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.”
Today’s Devotional
I meet often with a group of people and the Lord’s Prayer is said by all at the end of each gathering. If that was the only time I prayed, would that be enough?
No, it wouldn’t. Not for me, anyway. Memorized prayers are wonderful tools, but they do not constitute a conversation with the Father. Since we have been learning from Jesus how to pray, even my recitation of the Lord’s Prayer has taken on more meaning, because my heart now understands these words on a deeper level when I say them.
In today’s verse, Jesus warns us against babbling and repetition. It’s my belief that He is telling us that prayer needs to come from the heart. So, in a sense, we could even babble and repeat our way through the Lord’s Prayer without meaning a single word. Bibleref.com puts it like this: “Praying those exact words is not wrong—at all—but that arrangement has no special power. Prayer is not a magical incantation. The words we pray should be expressions of our hearts, not mechanical echoes.”
Have you ever been having a conversation with someone and you knew they weren’t really present? They were distracted or looking at their phone or their watch? Or they were just staring off into space and you knew their mind was elsewhere? Jesus is trying to teach us how NOT to do that with God. He wants our hearts. He always has. And Jesus is teaching us how to communicate with God from our hearts. And sometimes we make it a lot more complicated than it needs to be.
Who are you praying to? If God is your Father, what does that make you?
Who is God to you? How can you adore Him? What is the truth about God?
How can you invite His Kingdom and Lordship into your life and into the world?
How can you seek His will instead of seeking His blessing on your will?
What do you need today?
What do you need to confess?
Who do you need to forgive and do you need God’s help with that?
How do you need God’s protection and deliverance?
Great, now talk to God about all of that.
God wants each of us to take the time to just talk to Him. He wants a relationship. He wants to help us. He wants to build our faith. He wants to help us to align our priorities correctly. He wants to give us strength, and peace, and mercy, and love, and so much more. These things are done in prayer.
This video (from my church) is a great explanation of prayer, and Pastor John says it much better than I can. It is worth the six minutes of your time.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
What are you learning from Jesus about prayer?
How can you take the time to have a heartfelt conversation with your Father?
Write out your prayer to God today.