Do we pray the way Jesus taught us?

People pray in different ways in all the different denominations of Christianity. How do you pray Let's examine what Jesus Christ really taught about prayer. 

Many will agree that one of the basic elements of Christianity is prayer.

But when you research the wide variety of forms of Christianity, you find that there are many different customs and ideas about prayer. Let's look at the following:

Those who are Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox, typically see prayer as reciting previously written prayers. Roman Catholicism has hundreds of these prayers for people to recite in a variety of situations. For example, there are specific prayers for Catholics to recite before and after meals, when dealing with depression, and in many other situations. Catholic and Orthodox traditions include the custom of praying to Mary, angels, and saints as intercessors between God and man.

In general, the Protestant world is less liturgical in terms of prayers. There are different forms of prayer in Protestantism — from emotional prayers that are said from the church pulpit to prayer group meetings that meet to pray about specific topics.

Although the way people pray varies within traditional Christianity, all major branches frequently pray "our Father" found in Matthew 6: 9-13. Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants will say our Father many times in their entire lives because they believe that Jesus Christ instructed his servants to repeat this prayer in a literal way.

Is this the way Jesus Christ intended when He taught His disciples about prayer in the Sermon on the Mount? What did Jesus really teach about prayer?  

THE TEACHING OF CHRIST

Our Father is in the midst of Christ's Sermon on the Mount — the heart and core of true Christianity. Christ touched on the subject of prayer in a part of the sermon that explains that Christians should not do their good works for others to see. He said that good works — giving to charitable causes, serving others, etc. — should be done “in secret” (Matthew 6: 4). He did not mean that we should feel ashamed for doing good, but that our motivation should be to do good because we are trying to please God and do what is right. Our motivation should not be for other people to see us!

After clarifying this important point, Christ went on to speak on the subject of prayer. He gave several points that are very important to Christians — and contradict many of the customs that we find in Christianity today.

PRAYER IS NOT A SHOW 

Jesus applied the same principle that He said about good works to prayer: “And when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites; because they love to pray standing up in the synagogues and on the street corners, to be seen by men ”(v. 5).

PRAY IN PRIVATE 

Instead of making a public spectacle, Jesus taught: “But you, when you pray, enter your room, and closed the door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you in public ”(v.6).

Rather than praying publicly to be seen by others, prayer should be done primarily in private. There is an important reason for this. Prayer is designed as a means of communication to "draw near to God" (James 4: 8) —to deepen our personal relationship with Him.

In order to build a solid relationship with our Creator, we need to have a special time daily to focus on Him and pray to Him privately, face to face. Jesus Christ not only taught us about this; it was a regular part of his life (Matthew 14:23; Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12). (Keep in mind that there are times when praying in public is appropriate, such as taking meals together as a family, in church services, at a marriage ceremony, or at a funeral.)

PRAY TO THE FATHER 

Jesus was very clear in saying that our prayers were to be directed to God the Father: "Pray to your Father who is in secret" (Matthew 6: 6). Now that Jesus Christ is in heaven as the mediator between God and man, we pray "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:20; 1 Timothy 2: 5). Jesus said that we can ask the Father for anything in his name (John 14: 13-14).

Although Jesus Christ was very clear, it is amazing to see how many churches pray in a way that is totally contrary to his instructions. Prayers should not be directed to angels, Mary, or any other saint.

PRAYING FROM THE HEART 

Jesus made another clear statement that is widely ignored: "And in prayer, do not use vain repetitions, like the Gentiles, who think that by their verbiage they will be heard" (Matthew 6: 7). Christ was referring to the pagan way of reciting and singing prayers, based on the idea that repeating a prayer will bring favor from God (or the gods). This way of repeating or singing previously written prayers is something that is widely practiced in the Catholic and Orthodox Church .

God does not want previously written prayers to be repeated over and over. This does not fulfill the fundamental purpose of prayer, which is to develop a close personal relationship with God.

If you study many prayers recorded in the Bible, you will realize that they are all different, personal, and there is a heart communication between the person and God. Here are some sentences that are useful to study:

1 Samuel 1:11; 2: 1-10: Hannah's prayer for a child and her prayer of thanks to God after He blessed her with a son named Samuel.

Psalm 51: David's prayer of deep repentance for his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah the Hittite.

2 Kings 19: 15-19: King Hezekiah's prayer to God to deliver Judah from being conquered by Assyria.

JESUS ​​CHRIST GAVE US A SKETCH

Then Jesus was more specific. He said, "You therefore will pray thus" (Matthew 6: 9).

He then gave an example of prayer that has unfortunately been misused by many in traditional Christianity — in direct contradiction of his instruction in verse 7 not to use repetitive prayers. This is commonly called "our Father" and is recited repeatedly in many denominations.

But Christ did not give us this prayer for us to repeat over and over again.

What was Christ teaching us in the so-called "Our Father"? Essentially, Jesus was giving us an outline to show us a general structure and themes that we should include in our regular prayers to God. This outline should more aptly be called a model of prayer.

Study the chart that accompanies this article to better understand what Christ was teaching through this example of prayer.

God wants to have a deep, personal relationship with you. To develop this relationship, you need to communicate with Him through prayer. For these prayers to be "effective" and "fervent" (James 5:16), we must allow Jesus Christ to teach us how to pray and how to remove traditions that contradict what He taught.