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Have you ever felt lie your prayers were not getting answered no matter what you did or said? You look around and you see that others are getting their prayers answered, why is that? The disciples of Jesus had the same problem. We have many good books that we can read on prayer, but they had no books. They asked Jesus to teach them how to pray as John taught his disciples to pray. Jesus responded with a very simple model for them to follow, let’s we explore this model together.

The first thing that Jesus said was that it starts with our attitude. Don’t be like the hypocrites, they like to be seen praying by others. They will get their reward from those around them not from God. Don’t use a lot of words as do the pagans, they think that it is the many words that will get the answers. Both of these methods are focused on the individual and not the relationship with God. Jesus is not saying that we should never pray in public because He himself often prayed when around others, and yes to be heard by them. When Jesus prayed in public it was for a need that was pressing. The public prayers of Jesus also brought the people to God and brought God to the people in order that God would be glorified.

As was the custom of Jesus to find a quiet place to be alone with God to pray, He told the disciples to do the same. For Jesus prayer is and act of worship. As an act of worship we come into the presence of God. It is a privet time that we can focus on our relationship to Him and His relationship to us. When Jesus was giving them this model prayer He expected they did have a proper relationship with God and nothing would hinder the prayer time.

When worshiping God we are giving to Him the honor that is due Him. We see Him as the great “ I AM” the creator and sustainer of all life. Furthermore He is the focus of our praise, honor, and glory. It is only when we come to worship God that we can come into his presence with boldness. Part of our worship is that we want His will to be done and not ours. We are servants of the Most high God and therefore it is our act of worship that we carry our His desires for us. It is through prayer that we find His will for our lives.

It is also part of worship that we bring our request to God. Prayers that have been recorded in scripture first praise God and then bring a request to him. As we follow this model prayer we will start to see more of our prayers answered. The power of this prayer is in our attitude rather than the words.

Let us imitate Jesus in our prayer life.