30 Days On The Mount

-Chapter 17- Prayer (Mt. 6:5-8)

J esus now addresses prayer: the most intimate relationship between God and man. In verse 5 he comments on the Hypocrite ’ s Prayer ; Hidden Prayer in verse 6; the Heathen ’ s Prayer in verse 7 and 8 and Heavenly Prayer (The Lord’s Prayer) in verses 9-13. He deals with the proper motivation for prayer, where to pray, the reward of prayer and futile methods to avoid while speaking with God. He then gives us a ‘prayer’ that will always be heard in heaven and is a model for all our communication with the Father. Prayer is the ‘universal human instinct’ xiv common to people of all faiths; we were made to live in a continual relationship with God. ‘ Only through Jesus can we find the Father in prayer. ’ xiv Jesus confronted the highly-systematized world of Jewish prayer with his much simpler and relational approach to the Father in Heaven. • Prayer was formalized in the Jewish world: The devout Jews were required to pray the Shema three times per day. This is passage is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 … ”Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord…” In addition to the Shema, they were required to pray the Shemoneh ‘esreh - The Eighteen prayers three times a day as well. For many, prayer Jewish Prayer Life

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