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In this first episode, we’re going to talk about the little passage that leads into The Lord’s Prayer – Matthew 6:5-9.

A. What does it say?

3 Praying People in These Verses:

1. The hypocrites – what do they do? They love to be seen in prayer, and they already have their reward.
2. The righteous – they pray private prayers (at least in this context), and God rewards them later on.
3. The pagans – they babble on with many words, thinking they will be heard – do not be like them.

This passage is not a formula for prayer. If we take this too literally, we will miss the principles, the general framework, that we can grab from this passage.

B. What is the backstory?

Hypocrites were known to pray as performance, and Jesus was addressing that during the Sermon on the Mount – his sermon introducing his upside-down kingdom and what is required of those who choose to follow him.

C. What Does it Mean?

Prayer should not be performance, but personal.

Jesus is setting up a framework that says, there is a way you can pray that helps you connect to a Father who knows you and loves you.

Notice: Jesus does not say “here is ‘what’ to pray.” But rather, “here is ‘how’ to pray.”

D. What Does it Mean for Me?

Am I making space for private, personal prayer? Or am I praying to be seen? Don’t pray for others’ affirmation.

These next few weeks is an invitation to create a place of intimacy and connection with your heavenly father. If you have felt like you are missing something because prayer does not feel like what you think it should – if you have those questions, you are in the right place.