"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.After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."  Matthew 6:5-4 (KJV)

Jesus, tells us everything we need to know about praying. He tells us not to pray on the street corners, but to do in secret, in our closet. He tells us to shut our door and pray. That pretty much means to pray on your own with the Father. This is where people get the term, "Prayer closet." However, I don't think He actually means to go get in your closet. He just means to pray in private on your own and not before men. Do not try to look spiritual in front of others. If you pray in front of others, your reward is already given to you by man and you have no reward from God. However, if you pray in private to God, God, will reward you openly. I believe it's ok to pray with someone that needs prayer or just to pray with someone else once in a while. But to pray out in the open every time you pray, just to look spiritual isn't right. You can pray in your head if you're somewhere where there's a bunch of people. Your mind is private, it's like a closet no one can hear you there.

One mistake people make when praying, is this, they believe long prayers are the way to do it. They believe their much speaking is needed, but this isn't right. If you have a lot of things to address to God, then present your requests but do not be repetitive. Some of us will pray and be like, "Dear Lord, please help my finances and bring my mother to you. Please help my finances Lord!" Then they keep babbling on with the same things. God, knows your needs, before you ask. You don't need to keep speaking, to get an answered prayer! That has to be a relief for some of you, who repeat your prayers. It gets old praying for the same thing in the same prayer and babbling just to be babbling. Long prayers aren't necessary. Have you ever had someone talking to you and just babble on? it gets old to hear someone running their mouth just to be running it! Oops, that's exactly what I was just doing, sorry! Didn't mean to bore you.

Anyway Jesus, goes on and gives us His example of how to pray. He starts His prayer with praise, "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven." That's all praise to God, he doesn't ask for His needs right away. He praises God, first. Then and only then does He present His requests, "Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:" He asks for the things that are sufficient for the day. The things He needs, like bread. While He's praying notice, He asks for forgiveness, but not without forgiving others. Don't take this wrong Jesus, never sinned. He was just showing us how to pray. Then He asks for God, not to lead us into temptation, but to deliver us from evil. That's an important part of praying too. We need to pray for that because the devil, is always around to tempt us. Now He closes his short, but to the point prayer, with more praise, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." He ends the prayer, the same way He started it. This doesn't mean we need to repeat Jesus' prayer. This is an example of how to pray. If we say this same prayer all the time, we'll get nowhere. Just notice the main parts of His prayer, a lot of it is praise. Then He presents all His requests to God, asks for forgiveness and forgives others. The length of His prayer is not long at all.
 
One point Jesus, goes out of His way to make, is this. We must forgive others and not hold grudges for God, to forgive us. If we don't forgive others, God, won't forgive us. Think about it, why should God, forgive you, if you can't forgive others? You're supposed to be made in His image. You're supposed to be a light for the world and if you can't forgive someone, you're not representing God, right. 

Sometimes just spending quiet time with the Lord, is good. Just sitting there and thinking about the Lord and hearing Him speak. I hope today's message helps you in your prayer life.

God bless!

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