Prayer

I haven't been able to post here for a few days and I apologize. And I started this last night, but regretably wasn't able to finish, It got too late.

The other day in seminary we had a lesson on prayer.
How do you pray? Do you thank for what you have, and follow it with a list of things you want? A lot of times we pray like that, and don't even realize it.
To help us learn how to improve our prayers, we explored Matthew 6:5-15 and wrote down a principle for each verse using our scripture study skills.

I will take these one verse at a time and tell you my interpretation. Although you are free and encouraged to try and find something that applies to you.

5 ¶ And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the ahypocrites 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.

I think that this means that we should pray because we need to. Not just because we know we're supposed to. We should pray with sincerity.

6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy acloset, and when thou hast bshut thy door, cpray to thy Father which is in dsecret; and thy Father which eseeth in secret shall freward thee openly.

To me this means that we should keep our prays private between us and Heavenly Father.

7 But when ye pray, use not vain arepetitions, as the bheathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

The principle in this verse is to not say the same things in every single prayer with no sincerity. We should change our prayers and make it from our hearts. Here's some common things we say, I'm sure you can finish them.

"We thank thee for this..."

"Please bless this food that it will..."

"Bless those that could not be with us today that they may..."

"Please help us to take this lesson..."

There are more, but I really don't have space...

8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father aknoweth what things ye have bneed of, before ye ask him.

Heavenly Father knows what you need. He wants you to be humble and ask Him for it. Through prayer, we will be able to realize what we need, and be able to pray for that. Instead of what we want. Our will will become aligned with His will.

9 aAfter this manner therefore bpray ye: Our cFather which art in heaven, dHallowed be thy ename.

I had trouble with this one. But through thought I think it's telling us to be respectful and reverent when we pray.

10 Thy akingdom come. Thy bwill be done cin earth, as it is in heaven.

This verse goes along with number 8. Remember when Christ prayed and asked for His Father's will to be done instead of His? We need to do that too. Our Father knows what we need. We need to be humble enough to ask for what He wants done.

11 Give us this day our daily abread.

There are several ways of interpretting this verse. I think that the bread is the Spirit. So when we pray, it's like our daily boost of the Spirit. And If we pray daily we will be able to feel the Spirit more strongly throughout the day.

12 And forgive us our adebts, as we bforgive our debtors.

We can ask for forgiveness when we pray, as well as help to forgive others.

13 aAnd blead us not into ctemptation, dbut deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the eglory, for ever. Amen.

This reminds me of 1 Corinthians 10:13. We can pray to avoid temptation and to be delivered out of evil if we do meet temptation. He will protect us from such things, and I know he does.

14 For if ye aforgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 But if ye aforgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

These two go together. If we forgive others, God will forgive us. But if we don't forgive others, He will not forgive us.

I testify to you of the real power of prayer In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.