How to Pray

How not to pray.

“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. 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.” 
Matthew 6:5-8
Her Jesus tells us how not to pray.
1/ Don’t pray to be seen by man. To have men say “look at the prayer warrior.”
I know people who in church like to pray “in tongues” out loud.
Paul writing to the Corinthians states,
“If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret.  
If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.”  
1 Corinthians 14:27,28.
This is not what Jesus had in mind when he wanted people to pray.
2/ We should pray in private with the door closed.
Now this does not preclude praying in church but it should be in a known language and appropriate to what is happening.
3/ Avoid constant repetition. Don’t babble on that’s what the pagans did.
Jesus points out that God knows what you need before you ask.
Payer is thus an act of faith. Even though God knows what we need he wants us to act in faith and ask Him for our needs in our own language.
Because as the writer of Hebrews notes,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” 
                           Hebrews 11:6.
Think about it.