Personal Prayer: Not to be Noticed

PRAYER TEACHING OUTLINE – WEEK 2

Topic: Prayer Isn’t to Be Noticed

Vision Reminder: Pour Over Nights are not about hype or performance; they are about cultivating a personal and corporate lifestyle of prayer that goes deeper than the surface.

Check-In from Last Week:

Did anything shift in your daily rhythm of prayer?

- What insights did you gain about your own prayer frequency or posture through journaling or dictation?

I. PRAYER ISN’T FOR SHOW

“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites…”

Matthew 6:5–6

NASB95

5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

6 But as for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

- Jesus addresses motives in prayer — not just method.

- The problem isn’t public prayer, it’s prideful prayer.

- True prayer is about intimacy with the Father, not attention from others.

- The secret place is where spiritual roots grow deep.

- When your only prayer life is public, your faith may be shallow.

- God meets us in the unseen place and rewards us there.

II. PRAYER IS PERSONAL, NOT PERFORMED

- Prayer isn’t a religious performance — it’s a relational pursuit.

- You don’t have to impress God to be heard.

- The goal of prayer is not results, it’s relationship.

- When prayer becomes performance, it loses power.

- We’re not actors — we’re sons and daughters.

III. WORSHIP CULTURE CONNECTION

- At The Shed, we value authenticity over performance in worship and prayer.

- The private life of prayer fuels our public expressions of faith.

- We worship from intimacy, not for attention.

- You can’t live in public what you haven’t built in private.

IV. CLOSING CHARGE

- God desires authentic prayer from a sincere heart.

- Don’t let your spiritual life become staged — let it be sacred.

- If no one else ever sees or hears your prayer life, would it still be thriving?

PRAYER ACTIVITY – Assignment:

- Find a quiet space to pray alone — no music, no phone, no agenda.

- Spend at least 5 minutes in unseen prayer each day this week.

- Reflect:

- What happens when no one’s watching?

- How does your tone or content change when you’re alone with the Father?

- Write or record any thoughts that come out of those secret place moments.