Daily EncouragementSample

It is taken for granted that we will. “If thou art not a praying man,” says John Bunyan, “thou art not a Christian.” And the hymn writer agrees:

Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,
The Christian’s native air.

We shall be encouraged to persevere in prayer as we follow the Lord’s teaching in this familiar chapter.

Most of our praying is to be done in secret: “go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen” (verse 6).

There is no need for a multitude of words: “do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (verse 7).

There is a pattern prayer to follow: that is provided by the Lord’s prayer, as we call it - and rightly too, because he gave it to us. “This is how you should pray: Our Father . . . ” (verse 9ff). When Luther’s barber asked him for advice on prayer, he suggested taking each petition in the Lord’s prayer and making it a guide for his own praying. That is surely the right use of Jesus’ prayer, although thoughtful repetition of it is not to be excluded.

Our heart attitude must be right when we pray: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (verse 14).