5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6)
It's interesting here that Matthew records the instructions we have for what we call "The Lord's Prayer" in the context of Jesus' correcting the disciples' concept of prayer. They had seen it done wrongly so much they did not know how to "do it right." Simply put: Do not pray to be seen or heard. Of course, if you are praying with others (which we are told and also given examples that this is a good thing), then others will see and hear our prayers. The point is that we are not going to impress God with what we say or how we look, and we should not try to impress others. Praying is more about listening than talking. Praying is believing that God is listening, and not that we we need to get His attention: we already have it. He sees; He hears; He listens; He cares; He knows what is best. So let's simplify our prayers. Talk to God like He's in the room(He is!), and that He knows everything on our hearts (He does!) and that He is able to do what needs to be done (He will.) Pray like He is the star of the show, because, in reality, He is.
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