🗣️¿You Talkin To Me?👀

Are You

Prayer is no more than talking and talking is communication. Question? How does one build a relationship? By talking and that is what? Communication. Just because you communicated doesn’t mean you are building a relationship. 

I want to teach about Prayer for a little while. Prayer is something we all need to do. Most don’t pray until there is a reason to pray. Remember communication comes by talking. Relationships come by talking often. Have you ever heard someone say “you can ask them but they aren’t going to do that.” Do you know how they knew that? 

Because of the relationship they had. I worked for a man and we became good friends. We did that by our communications. The more we talked to each other the more we knew about each other. Over time we built a relationship. We were at a conference getting educational hours for our state license. There were also others that worked for Joe. When we broke for lunch some of his men came and asked Joe if he would take them to Hooters for lunch. Joe said sure if Wayne will go? Joe knew I was not going to Hooter! How was he so sure I wouldn’t go? He knew me because of our relationship. 

• We read of Jesus Praying all night;  
• We read of Daniel praying 3 times a day. 
• The Apostle Paul tells us to pray without ceasing.

Is this what Jesus teaches us to do? Well let’s look at what Jesus said as He taught His disciples to pray. 

We will start in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 5. In verse 5,6 and 7 three phrases jump out at me. I see the word WHEN in verse 5. That interested me. It didn't say that we shouldn’t pray all night or three times a day but Jesus says WHEN you pray; not IF you pray.

Jesus tells us how to pray “when thou prayest” DON’T be like the  “hypocrites” let’s refresh our thinking on what a hypocrite is Webster say this “one who assumes a false appearance.” In this case one who wants you to think they pray all the time when they don’t pray much at all. Jesus is teaching I want you to pray but what I don’t want is that you make others think you pray when you don’t. It’s not what others think of you, it's what God knows about you. We aren’t praying to impress others, that should never be our purpose. Jesus says, don’t do that. 

Matthew 6:5 (KJV) 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.

When you pray don’t be like a hypocrite.

When you pray you can be private. 

Matthew 6 (KJV) 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.

• When you pray don’t be like a hypocrite.
• When you pray you can be private.
• When you pray, don't keep repeating yourself. 

Have you ever been around others that just kept repeating themselves over and over? Have been around others that might say I know you have heard this before but I want to tell it to you one more time. Which would you rather listen to? 

Matthew 6:7 (KJV) But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

It’s not about how many words we use in our praying, it's what we say when we pray. Sometimes our prayer needs to be Clear, simple and straight to the point. Remember the night Peter walked on water? All was good until he let the fear of the storm overtake him. There was no time for him to go to his place of prayer. There was no time for him to spend an hour in prayer. Oh no he was sinking and sinking fast so he prayed a short prayer.

Matthew 14:30 (KJV) But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. It was clear, simple and straight to the point. Here is another short prayer.  Matthew 15:25 (KJV) Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. Clear, simple and straight to the point. Break our day down into 5 minute segments, know how many we have every day? We have 12 every hour which means we have 288 5 minute segments a day. How much of a 5 minute segment does it take to say “Lord, help me” “Lord, save me” May I say there probably isn’t a day that goes by that we shouldn’t be praying short prayers.