This document contains passages from Matthew 6:5-13 about prayer and additional commentary. It teaches that true prayer happens in private before God rather than for public praise. It should not be repetitive or seeking one's own desires but focus on developing intimacy with God and accepting His will. Authentic prayer values God's presence over people's praise. The document encourages evaluating one's prayer life to ensure it is about connecting with God rather than just routine.

1. Matthew 6:5-6a
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 men. I tell you the truth,
they have received their reward in full. But
when you pray, go into your room, close
the door and pray to your Father, Who is
unseen.
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2. Matthew 6:6b-8
Then your Father, Who sees what is done in
secret, will reward you. And when you
pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans,
for they think they will be heard because of
their many words. Do not be like them, for
your Father knows what you need before
you ask Him.
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3. Matthew 6:9-10
This then, is how you should pray: ‘Our
Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name,
Your kingdom come, Your will be done on
earth as it is in heaven.
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4. Matthew 6:11-13
Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us
our debts, as we also have forgiven our
debtors. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
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5. You cannot live a GODLY life
apart from a PRAYERFUL life.
Prayer can either be POINTLESS or a
POWERHOUSE depending on whether or not
it is practiced in faith.
The question is are we practicing our faith
BEFORE people or FOR God.

6. Authentic prayer values
God’s PRESENCE over
peoples’ PRAISE
It is possible to give the appearance of
serving God when in truth we are only
SERVING ourselves by PERFORMING for
others
If your PRAYER time is limited to CHURCH
time, then don’t be surprised if God feels
distant in your ALONE time.

7. Prayer is RELATIONSHIP
over RITUAL
Prayer is not about INFORMING God of what
He doesn’t already know, but connecting our
HEARTS to His.

8. Prayer is about God’s WILL
over our OWN
Prayer is not seeking to bend God to our will,
but TRUSTING God with His
If you desire to grow in godliness, then
prayer needs to be about more than
appearances, or seeking what you want; it
must be about DEVELOPING INTIMACY with
your heavenly Father…

9. Please take a moment to fill out your
Communication Card
My Next Step Today is to:
( ) Do the home life help (in bulletin)
( ) Evaluate my prayer life
( ) Examine if my faith is lived out more before
people or for God
( ) Spend more time meeting with God in private
(worship, study, prayer, etc.)
( ) Meditate on how Matt. 6:9-13 is both a model
prayer and a model for prayer
( ) Other________________________