How to Pray -- Part 1

Jesus taught us how to pray and be heard by God. Prayer is simple, powerful and wonderful. This is our first short article on prayer. We will give the main points first, and then you can read how Jesus taught about it. Finally, we will show some examples of prayer and you can evaluate whether they are good or bad.

1. Avoid praying in public as much as possible. Do not pray to be seen by others, because that is what the hypocrites do. They want praise from people. They want to appear special. Hypocrites are religious, but have bad motives. So, if you do have to say a prayer in front of other people, keep it short, simple, and sincere.

2. Talk in secret to your heavenly Father, who is Almighty God. He sees and hears everything, so He will hear you and reward you if you seek Him in private.

3. Pray only to your heavenly Father or to His Son Jesus. Do not pray to ancestors, saints, Mary, idols, angels, spirits or any other "gods". Praying to anyone besides the true God is called idolatry and is a huge error. Nations have been judged and ruined because of it. Do not do it or you will not please God.

4. Do not keep repeating yourself when you pray. God is not a machine that needs to be wound up by your words. He knows what you need before you even ask Him. Ask him directly and humbly for what you need.

This is what Jesus said:

"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." (Matthew chapter 6, verses 5-8, from the Bible)

Examples -- Are these good or bad examples? See answers at the end.
A. A Catholic nun prays with her rosary beads faithfully everyday.
B. A Muslim man announces to everyone in the house that he must go to his prayer time in the next room (Muslims are required to have specific prayer times each day).
C. A Tibetan Buddhist monk spins a prayer wheel constantly, upon which are written prayers to the spirits.
D. A man has not enough money to feed his family, even though he works hard. He goes into his bedroom alone and asks God his heavenly Father for help.
E. A pastor offers a long prayer to stir up the congregation, which is eloquent, dramatic and emotionally powerful. The congregation applauds him afterward.

Answers:

A. Bad. First, the rosary includes prayers to Mary, which is the sin of idolatry. Second, the rosary is a series of repetitive prayers just like the heathen use. It is exactly what Jesus warned against.
B. Bad. He wishes to be seen by others as a holy person. Better to have gone to his prayers secretly, not to mention that the Allah he prays to is not the true God.
C. Bad. He is praying to spirits, or false gods, which is idolatry. Second, he unfortunately thinks that by his many words, even by unspoken words written on a wheel, he is doing spiritual good.
D. Good. He prays in private, to the true God. If he asks in faith, God will help him.
E. Bad. He received his reward in the form of praise from others, but not from God the Father.