Matthew 6:5-15 Devotional

When You Pray

5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly, I tell you, they have their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.

The Lord's Prayer

9 “Therefore, you should pray like this: 

Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy.

10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 

14 “For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. 15 But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses. -- Matthew 6:5-15 (CSB)

In Matthew 6:5-15, Jesus delivers profound lessons on prayer during His Sermon on the Mount. He contrasts the prayers of the hypocrites—those who pray publicly to gain human admiration—with the intimate and heartfelt communication with God that He desires. Jesus teaches us to retreat into solitude, where the focus remains on our relationship with the Heavenly Father.

I was a German Evangelical church pastor in rural Minnesota over thirty years ago. We were conservative in worship, but like most churches, we felt pressure to change some of our traditions. We still used a printed bulletin and a structured order of worship. One Sunday, the Lord’s Prayer was left off the bulletin and missing from the worship order. After several weeks of missing it, an elderly man approached me and asked, “Reverend, do we no longer believe in the Lord’s Prayer?” I was saddened and explained it was an office mistake, my mistake, and it would be in the bulletin this week.

“Reverend, I memorized the prayer as a youth in confirmation class. Since then, I have started my day with the Lord’s Prayer.” Then he got excited. “Every morning after I wake up, I roll off the bed to my knees and enter the school of prayer with the Holy Spirit. I use the Lord’s Prayer as my blueprint for my conversation with God.

He asked me for a piece of paper. He pulled a carpenter’s pencil from his pocket and wrote five words:

Adoration

Submission

Dependence

Forgiveness

Protection

“When I was a young man, an old pastor taught me those five words and how the Lord’s prayer teaches us how to pray.”

This is what I learned from that old German dairy farmer that day when he took me to the school of prayer with the Holy Spirit.

Adoration: Recognizing God's holiness and sovereignty (“Hallowed be Your name”).

Submission: Aligning our will with His purposes (“Your kingdom come, Your will be done”).

Dependence: Trusting Him for provision (“Give us this day our daily bread”).

Forgiveness: Reflecting His grace in our relationships (“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”).

Protection: Seeking His guidance and deliverance from evil (“Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one”).

After he had taken me to the school of prayer, he concluded, “Jesus reminds us, Reverend, that genuine prayer is not a performance, but a humble and transformative experience rooted in a deep desire to connect with God. That’s why the Lord’s prayer is important to me.”

Practical Personal Application:

Evaluate Your Prayer Life: Take a moment to reflect on your prayers. Are they driven by a genuine relationship with God or influenced by external factors, like others' opinions?

Create a Prayer Space: Set aside a quiet, private place for prayer where you can focus solely on God. This space can help cultivate intimacy and eliminate distractions.

Pray the Lord's Prayer Daily: Use the Lord's Prayer as a guide, meditating on its structure and meaning as you communicate with God.

Forgiveness in Action: Identify relationships where forgiveness is needed. Ask God for the strength to reconcile with others, mirroring His grace toward you.[i]

Closing Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You for inviting us into a personal relationship through prayer. Help us approach you with sincerity and humility, seeking not the approval of others but your divine presence. Teach us to align our will with Yours, depend on Your provision, and extend Your grace to those around us. Strengthen us in moments of temptation and deliver us from all that seeks to harm us. May your name be glorified in our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.