Matthew 6:5-8

Praying sometimes is the most difficult thing to do.  It's hard to put words on what God has laid on your heart to express.  Often times when leading worship, I get caught up in all the worship and just the whole atmosphere that I often forget to pray, and when i do I have no idea what to say.  So i was flipping through the Bible awhile ago just reading a whole bunch of scriptures about how to effectively pray and i found this verse in Matthew that struck me hard...

Matthew 6:5-8, "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. But when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. for they think that they will be heard for their many words."

There are a few reasons why this strikes so close to home...

1. I find my self constantly praying the same prayers over and over again using the same phrases and the same words.

2. Prayer is not something between you and men. It is between me and God. the verse in Matthew said to go to a secret place and when you are there to shut the door and pray to the Lord who is unseen and you will receive your reward in full. I understand this completely not really being a public praying type.  But when i realized that no matter what i say is God breathed if my heart is open and surrendered to him.  as the devotions said, prayer can be imagined as breathing in and out and out and in. When this is done, we often feel extremely close to God. A lot of times just sitting in the presence of God soaking in the beauty of the world around us just waiting to hear from God is the most amazing thing we can do. Prayers don't need to be a certain amount of words its a conversation with God.