Did you know that not all prayers are created equal. There are prayers that will bring you
closer to God and there are prayers that God honestly does not care, in fact He condemns.
We're going to look at two kind of prayers that Jesus condemns and one kind of a prayer that Jesus
accepts and invites. The first kind of a prayer that Jesus rejects is the prayer of a heathen.
Heathens, as Jesus called them. They think that the length of prayer guarantees results.
They think that if you pray for a very long time and use many repetitions, that this prayer
would get God's attention. Now there's nothing wrong with praying long prayers. Jesus spent all
night in prayer. We see other people in the Bible prayed long prayers. And we see Jesus repeating
His prayer three times, "Father you know if it's possible may this cup pass me over." And as well
as we know that Paul prayed three times asking God to remove the thorn in his flesh. But this
is different. The heathens are people who don't operate out of a place of relationship, instead
of out of a place of vain repetitions and simply thinking that if they pray a long time, that
God will be forced to answer. The second prayer that Jesus rejects is the prayer of a hypocrite.
Now hypocrites, they love to use prayer as a means to get attention. They're not trying to
get God's attention, they're just trying to get attention of other people. And Jesus says, "Don't
be like them." Hypocrites are actually religious people. If the heathens are not religious people,
they're simply people not in the covenant with God. Hypocrites are people who are religious
and they actually know the rules and they know something about prayer, and these were Pharisees.
They prayed with the goal to get as much attention unto themselves as possible.
See the purpose of prayer is so that you connect with God. Not so that you can get brownie points
with your religious onlookers. The third type of prayer and this is the right type of prayer.
And it's the prayer I would like to call it, the prayer of an heir or the prayer of God's child.
Now we see that Jesus gives us this example of what it's like to pray correctly
or pray as an heir, pray as a child of God. A few things let's highlight. Number one. The priority
of prayer. He says, "When you pray." That means He expects us to pray. It's not an option for
a Christian to pray. It's also not an obligation but it's an opportunity when God invites us into
His presence. Then the second principle of the proper way of praying is the place. He says, "Go
into your room." You know we know Jesus prayed in the wilderness. We know great men of God prayed
and had alters. Some people went on the mountain. But in here Jesus says hey
make it simple, make it practical, go into your room, go into your closet, go into your car.
Meaning find a place. So first is the priority. Second one is the place. The third principle of
this prayer is the privacy. He says, "Shut your door." You know in other words, hey don't do this
to become known. Don't do this to get attention. Don't do this to get people's approval. Pretty
much, you know don't post your prayer. Now there's nothing wrong with sometimes live streaming or
prayer anything. But if your motive for that, is like the motive of a hypocrite, you will lose the
benefits of what prayer is supposed to be. May the fact that you're praying, be revealed by God
publicly blessing you, then you privately bragging and showing off your prayer. So
the privacy of prayer. So priority. We also have seen that it's also a place; privacy.
And then He says, "Pray." So that's the fourth thing, actually pray. Meaning use your mouth,
say your prayer. Don't just think your prayer, address God. And I have other videos on what to
do in your prayer that you can check it out. The prayer, the Lord's prayer, the Jabez prayer, the
prayer of the tabernacle. You can do a spiritual warfare prayer. You can pray through the Lord's
redemptive names. So there's different ways you can go through prayer or you can simply just go
through thanksgiving, confession, praying for your petitions. As well as doing spiritual warfare,
forgiveness of others and praying for other people. And then He says this, "Pray to your
Father." So the fifth secret of the right prayer is the Person, the Father. Meaning prayer is not
about prayer. Prayer is about the Father. So many people get all tripped up about prayer because
they actually think about prayer, more than they think about the Father. Jesus did not say, you
know when you come into prayer, hey this is what you need to say. Even though He gave us a model,
but He's saying this is Who you're gonna pray to. So prayer is not about the how, it's about
the Who. Our Father. You are an heir. You are a child. You are His son. You are his daughter.
So yes, it's important to make a priority in prayer. Yes it's important to find a place in
prayer. It's important to keep privacy in prayer. It's also important to pray.
But something that is the most important, and that is actually to remember the Person
that prayer is all about. And it's not about you, it's about Him. And the last secret of
this prayer that Jesus expects from us, is the promise. He says if you do it the right
way. Meaning if you do it in a way that I just described, and I literally just broke down the
verse for you. He says He will reward you openly. That means that Jesus will not only bless you
while you're praying, He will reward you for praying, publicly. And sometimes that happens in
the way that He blesses your business, He blesses your relationships, He blesses your ministry,
He blesses your finances, your health. The Lord has a way of rewarding people who pray and He
does it publicly. That's why He's saying do it privately and I will reward you publicly. But if
you're trying to use the prayer to get public attention, like hypocrites or if you're doing
this long extended prayer because you don't actually have a relationship with the Father.
As a heathen, He's like, you won't get anything. Pray like an heir, choose the place,
make it a priority, as well as make it private. As well as pray, actually pray.
Don't just sit there and you know think or meditate. Pray actually. And then He says,
"Think about Me when you're praying and I promise to reward you. Even if it's not perfect prayer,
I will reward that prayer." Why? Because God loves when His children call on Him. In fact let's pray
right now. Father God, in the name of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit we're approaching your throne.
I pray for everyone watching or re-watching, that you will help them in their prayer life. I pray
that they will embrace the life of an heir, the prayer of an heir. I pray that you will help them
to find the right place, that you will help him to make it a priority. That you will help him to keep
it private and that you will help him God to focus on you. And I pray Lord that they will begin to
actually pray. Let them experience sweet rewards of your presence in prayer and sweet blessings
of your reward outside of prayer, in Jesus name, amen. Hey if this video was helpful for you,
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