Why Pray

Introduction

Last week we talked about the impact that reading the bible has on your life, this week we will be talking about another form of communication with God, Prayer.

When we spend time listening to something we start to recognize the voice.

Choose today to make time for God through prayer.

Body

Matthew 6:5–13 CSB

5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him. 9 “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Point 1 - Don’t pray for the wrong reasons

Do you ever pray at home? Not at dinner when your family is around? But just solely for the sake of spending time talking to God.

If you only spend your time talking to God in public then it may be a sign that it is not being done for the right reasons

Perhaps you are too busy and you feel like church is the only time you get to pray, but the beauty of praying is that it’s a heart thing, not a ritualistic thing

You can literally pray anytime under all circumstances! In fact you should, you don’t need to be in a church and have your head bowed and your eyes closed.

We do that to honor God, but you could simply pray in the car, or literally anywhere.

When we make time for God, he changes us.

God is calling us to a genuine heart, in fact this passage says he knows what we want before we even ask him, but the reason we pray is to honor and show God that we know he will work.

You don’t have to pray super long prayers, the longer the prayer doesn’t mean the higher priority it gets on God’s to do list

God can do anything, he simply wants to be a part of your life and hear from you.

Choose today to make time for God through prayer

Conclusion

The God of the universe wants to have a relationship with you.

God loved us enough to send his son Jesus to die for us and all of our problems.

Now he wants to hear from you and help you in your daily life.

Choose today to make time for God through prayer.