8/20/25 Daily Devotional: A Prayerful Life

Matthew 6:5-13 NASB - (Jesus said) “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray, then, in this way: Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer so that we would know HOW to pray. Paul later told us that we should pray without ceasing … living our life in CONSTANT COMMUNION with God.

Have you ever looked at the Lord’s Prayer as not just instructions for how to pray … but instructions for HOW TO LIVE?

HOW NOT TO LIVE

As a PERFORMANCE

• Do not ever live “so that you may be seen by others”…this is especially difficult sometimes in church settings!

• We should not be concerned with other people’s assessment of our life when we are truly following Him!

As a RECITAL

• Jesus says “do not heap up empty phrases”…yet how often do we live out our Faith in empty ritual & action?

• Don’t let your Faith be EMPTY! If you are going to pray & say the words ... consider the words, believe the words, trust the words, and LIVE the words!

HOW TO LIVE

In proper RELATIONSHIP

• We live in communion with God as our Father!

• He is not a far off deity, He is not a condemning dictator, He is not an everything-goes hippie, He is not a subservient genie…HE IS OUR LOVING FATHER and He wants to interact with us all throughout every single day!

With appropriate REVERENCE

• He Loves us AND He is THE Holy God.

• He is WORTHY of Worship, deserving of GLORY, unmatched, unequaled, unfathomable…HOLY!

• We are to live out our Faith every day, acknowledging Him as our Father, without losing the HALLOWED REVERENCE for Who He is.

With aligned REQUESTS

• It is HIS Kingdom and HIS Will that we are to be pursuing with our life … and He calls us to DO IT with Him!

• To be clear, Jesus models for us to make our own requests to God … we are to bring Him our own wishes, desires & plans … AND we are to bathe those personal plans in an ultimate desire for HIS WILL to be done IN & THROUGH us.

In complete RELIANCE

• We live our life of Faith in COMPLETE RELIANCE on Him, through Him & from Him for EVERYTHING that we need & everything that we do.

• Jesus modeled a life of complete reliance on God … seeking God’s Will, God’s Direction & God’s Strength every single day!

• Are we truly relying on God to provide what we need for each day? … or do we prefer to lean on our own understanding for our daily provision of needs & go to God to request our big wants?

With humble REPENTANCE

• A proper understanding of Holy God will produce a humble recognition of our own flawed nature…not for condemnation but for FORGIVENESS!

For a VICTORIOUS result

• God - forgive me when I fail and give me your STRENGTH, your COURAGE and your POWER to follow you into your VICTORY today!

May we all follow Jesus’ example and live a PRAYERFUL LIFE like this today!