“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven.’” (Matthew 6:9) Jesus’ approach to prayer is strongly rooted in his relationship with God as Father. Three times in Matthew 6:6-8, Jesus refers to “your Father”; twice in verse 6 and once in verse 8. The idea of approaching God as Father isn’t entirely new …
Prayer to Your Father in Secret [30 Days of Prayer]
“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.” (Matthew 6:6) In contrast to the hypocrite of Matthew 6:5, who loves to have their prayers seen and heard in public places, Jesus tells …
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Don’t Pray Like Pagans [30 Days of Prayer]
“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like the pagans” (Matthew 6:7) Just as the point of prayer is not to impress others, so, too, the point of prayer is not to simply get God to do what we want. As Jesus continues to teach on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, …
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Don’t Pray Like Hypocrites [30 Days of Prayer]
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites.” (Matthew 6:5) When we come to the topic of prayer, there is nothing worse than starting in the wrong place. In Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, He graciously highlights two errors that we easily slip into with prayer. We will look at …
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Learning to Pray with Jesus [30 Days of Prayer]
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1) In order to become a person of prayer, we must want to learn. Like Jesus’ disciples in Luke 11, we must not only …
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Matthew Erickson 