Daily Prayer Devotional for Women and Men | OnlinePrayerJournal

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For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.

Matthew Matthew 6 5 “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. ⁶But 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. ⁷And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹Give us today our daily bread. ¹²Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ‘ ¹⁴For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

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Who among us does not recognize the importance of prayer, yet, if we are honest, we so often feel guilty about its practice. Jesus never explains how prayer works, but he cuts to the heart with simplicity. Do you have a room with a door? Then go in and shut the door. Being private really matters. Secrecy is vital for us personally to grow in prayer—though, of course, public prayer and corporate worship are also necessary. Secrecy avoids the dangers of hypocrisy and verbosity (v. 5). Prayer that impresses others utterly fails to impress God. Only being alone with the shut door truly reveals who we are with God. ‘A man is what he is on his knees and nothing more.’1

Jesus helps us to pray with the familiar Lord’s Prayer (vv. 9—13). We can recite it, though we should never babble it unthinkingly (v. 7). Tom Wright also sees it as a framework for how we should regularly talk with God.2 Note its intimate yet expansive beginning, which embraces God as Father and his kingdom work. Instead of first marveling at God’s greatness and his kingdom’s work, too often we barge in with our personal list of concerns. No, we need to begin with praise and thanks before focusing on our personal needs, which also (amazingly) matter to him: our daily bread (note it is about everyday practical needs as well as spiritual food), forgiveness (the sustaining dynamic of all godly relationships), and deliverance from evil (the reality of living in a fallen world).

In closing, Jesus emphasizes that active forgiveness matters too (vv. 14, 15). Failure to forgive others ruins prayer lives. We must not hinder our access to God by neglecting our relationships with others.

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