Reading Plan:  

Matthew 6:5-15   

Pray As You Are

Author: Holden Hunt  

“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. . . Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Matthew 6:6,8  

 Before we talk through today’s verses, I want to let you know that Matthew chapter 6 has been and probably always will be my favorite chapter in the Bible. That being said, it was difficult for me to land on one topic from today’s verses because today’s verses - and this chapter as a whole - are full of pure gold from the mouth and mind of Jesus. There’s enough in this one chapter to spend months talking about, but we’re going to focus on prayer today.  

Have you ever felt lost when you start to pray? Like you have no idea what to say or what to pray about? Do you ever begin to pray and then a million and one things fill your mind that all pull your focus towards anything other than Jesus? Or what about this, have you ever wondered whether or not God hears your prayers?  

If you answered yes to any of those questions, know that you’re not alone! And that’s not a bad thing! I have felt and questioned all of those things at least once in my life, and countless other followers of Jesus have wondered the same things. And while I don’t have all the answers to all of those questions, God has revealed some things to me recently about prayer that I want to share with you today.  

The first thing about prayer that I want to address is this – there is nothing that you will say in your conversations with the Lord that He will not hear. God’s full attention is always on and with you. He “sees what is done in secret” (vs. 6), and He “knows what you need before you ask” (vs. 8). If our Heavenly Father sees what is done in secret and knows what we need before we ask, the only logical conclusion is that His attention is on us all the time - even when ours isn’t on Him. For Him to both see what is done in the secret areas of our lives and know all of our needs before we even speak them, we must have His full attention. And if we have His full attention, that means He’s given it to us and gives it to us constantly.  

The second thing is this – pray as you are, not as you ought to be. This one is for people like me who often feel like they have to pray a certain way for it to be a prayer. Prayer is nothing more than a conversation between you and God. There is an outline for prayer in verses 9-13 of Matthew chapter 6, but can I tell you that God cares about everything in between the lines of that prayer too? Here’s an example of what I mean by that: verse 11 tells us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread.” Yes, bread can be, and often is, a physical thing like food or clothing that you are asking God to provide, but it can also be things like joy, peace, or rest.  

I pray on an almost daily basis for God to give me the ability to access and experience the joy that is found in Him because I know that it strengthens me and equips me to make it through each and every day. Joy is something that’s in my prayers that is often in between the lines of the Lord’s prayer for me.  

What are some of those things for you? And as you’re thinking through those, don’t get caught up in the weeds of it. Taking the time to pray is much more important than how you pray. If you get into a daily rhythm of creating silence and solitude to talk to God about what’s actually on your mind, you’ll wake up one day and be amazed at the depth and joy you find in your relationship with Jesus. Learning and implementing this has changed my life, and I pray it does the same for you.  

Reflection:

• How comfortable do you feel talking to God in prayer? Rate it on a scale of 1-10, and share that with fellow followers of Jesus. If you can, spend time figuring out why your comfortability - or lack thereof - is what it is, and share that as well. Healing is found in acknowledging where we are.  
• If you have 40 free minutes (I know that’s a lot) and an Apple Music or Spotify account, search “Pray As You Can” by Bridgetown Audio Podcast and listen to it. Much of what we discussed today is in this podcast, but it is explained much better and in much more detail. 10/10 recommend! 
• If music is more of your thing than a podcast, “Talking To Jesus” by Elevation Worship is a song that is a healthy reminder for me to not complicate prayer. Listen to that song and how it simply describes prayer, and once the song ends, I encourage you to spend a few minutes talking to Jesus like he’s your friend.  

Family Application: Jesus teaches us how to pray.  

Author: Cooper Herrington

• What we are reading today is Jesus giving us an example of how to pray. Prayer is a conversation with God. Jesus gave us an example of how to have a conversation with God. 
• When we pray, we can tell God how great He is, we can tell Him sorry for our sins, we can tell Him thank you, we can ask for His help, and we can have a conversation with God about anything. God is always with you and always wants to hear from you.   
• Take some time today to pray. Have a conversation with God about whatever is going on in your life. (As your kids pray, take this time to pray over them. Thank God for the gift of parenting, pray for their salvation, and talk to God about your child.) 
• Prayer: God, You are our Teacher! Thank You for teaching me how to pray. God, help me be honest with You when I have a conversation with You. Amen.