9.8.2014 Why do we Pray?
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you that you alone are God. You are the creator and sustainer of all. Help us Lord to be still and to focus our thoughts on you alone. Teach us what you want us to know from this passage.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen
Matthew 6:5-8 NIV
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
6 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.
7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Why do I pray?
Do I pray to show others how much I love God and how much I know?
Are my prayers between God and me alone or are they for others to hear and tell me what a nice prayer that was?
Do I pray to glorify God and God alone because He alone is worthy of all my worship and praise?
Do I humbly yet confidently come to Him bringing Him praise and my prayer request?
As I ponder these questions I realize these verses are talking about my motives when I pray.
It is all about my motives. When I pray with others I need to have my focus on God only so that I concentrate on Him even as I pray with others not in front of them. When I pray with my focus on God He will see and hear me and will reward me. Do I seek to please God alone with my prayers? Is that my true and only motive when I pray?
It is such a privilege to be able to pray to the God who created everything. He is Almighty God and all Powerful yet He desires to spend time with me and He loves me to earnestly come to Him in prayer and He even rewards me. He wants ME to come to Him, to love Him, and to ask Him for things I need in a personal, engaged way. I can read or recite a prayer or pray for the same thing over and over but I need to be personally engaged with all my mind and heart. I cannot just say words but I must think about them and mean them. He is my Father and I can just talk to Him. He loves our time together and I do too.
God always listens to me and hears me when I pray. What a wonderful God.
I need to be sure my motive is to love God and to earnestly desire to spend time with Him when I pray.
Will you join me in examining your prayer time with our Holy God?
Charleen
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for listening to us and for always hearing us when we pray. Thank you for loving us and that we can come to you anytime in any condition and you will welcome us and rejoice that we are there. We love you and ask you to help us have the right motives when we pray.
In Jesus Name we pray, Amen