 Welcome to Foundations of Faith. Today I want to talk to you about prayer. Do you know that prayer is one of those things that all of us as followers of Jesus Christ know that we should do? We all have a desire to pray and we all find ourselves maybe sporadically, intermittently throwing up a prayer in the middle of our day. But prayer is also one of those parts of being a follower of Jesus that so many of us feel unqualified and uninformed on how to do it well. And so we have some people that are just really efficient, really effective, really committed and disciplined and their prayer life is just incredible. But if you're anything like me, prayer is oftentimes one of those things that has plagued my conscience because I know I should pray, I should pray more. You read those Bible verses that say, pray without ceasing. My first reaction is God, it's just so hard to know how to pray. How am I supposed to do it well? How do I do it in a way that pleases God and brings about spiritual vitality and joy in my own life? In its simplest terms, prayer means to communicate with God. And so that's a very general term but it literally means to talk to God. In fact, it's not supposed to be a monologue. Prayer is supposed to be a dialogue, a two-way conversation in which God speaks to us just as much as we are speaking to him. Oftentimes when we go to prayer, we think that we need to be eloquent. We think that we need to have the Bible memorized to a certain degree in order to be able to present our case almost like an attorney in a courtroom. And that's the only way that we're gonna get God to respond. We wanna make sure that we do it just right. But I wonder if we're missing the point of the gift of prayer. Jesus had some things to say about prayer. He said in Matthew chapter six, when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who is seized in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them. For your father knows what you need before you ask. And then Jesus said this. He says, when you pray, pray like this. Our father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. So Jesus had some really passionate thoughts about prayer. Number one is this. He says, when you pray, don't put on your prayer costume. Don't be like the hypocrites. The word hypocrite is a Greek word that means actor. Don't pretend. Don't meet somebody else's standard. Don't be something other than you're not. But he says, go into your secret place. Where your father is and speak to him, not with repetitious words or even really big flowery words but authentically from your heart. It's interesting Jesus said this. Number one, get in a secret place, a time and a place where you can meet with God. That's the most important thing. Schedule it as a vital part of your life. Secondly, when you pray, pray to the father. Jesus said in John chapter 12 that when we pray to the father, we're supposed to pray in his name. So we pray to the father in Jesus' name. And we do it with an open, honest dialogue, sharing with the father secretly the desires of our heart, the sins that we need to confess and inviting God to speak to us as well. Jesus gave us this pattern of prayer. It begins with worship, our father who is in heaven. And then it moves on. It says, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We should pray that God's will would be done in our life and in our world. And it says that we're supposed to also ask forgiveness. It says forgive us our sins as we forgive others. And we can also ask God for our needs. That's called petition. God, give us today our daily bread. We can also ask for protection. God deliver us from the evil one. And then at the very end for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. We should remember that God is all powerful and that God is always looking out for us. And here's maybe the biggest key to prayer. Jesus said, go into your secret place and pray to your father who's already there, who's in the secret place. Prayer is not about us conjuring God up to come and hear our needs. Prayer is us entering into a space and a mind frame in which God the Father is already waiting for us. It's not just praying to God, it's praying to the Father. That's his posture towards us. It's relationship, it's intimacy. He's more interested and more desirous of you praying than even you are. He wants to meet your needs even more than you want him to meet your needs. And he's always available to us. He's a good father and like every good father he protects, he provides and he affirms identity. So we mess things up. When we begin to put our own impediments, our own expectations upon ourselves, we try to play a role. We need to get rid of all that. We need to get into a secret space with God, bring the word of God. We need to present our needs, confess our sins and have a hearing ear to hear the things that the Father wants to say over our lives. Today I want to challenge you. If you're struggling with prayer, look at your schedule tomorrow, maybe even today. Find a time and a place to meet with God. Go there, read the word, share with God your pain, your concerns, your sins, read the scriptures, ask him for your needs, sit and listen to what he has to say with you and watch how it sets your life and your whole future on a course towards a flourishing relationship with God.