Of all of the creation of God, only man has the ability to worship. Sadly, over the history of mankind, only a few have decided to worship Him. Instead, the majority of mankind have turned to other things to worship. Concerning man, Paul once said, “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…” (Romans 1:25). Let us learn from the mistake of man in the past and choose to worship God rather than man.

One of the greatest avenues of worship is prayer. Prayer is a wonderful blessing that should not be neglected. It is an expression of our faith, trust, and confidence in God. Every time we pray, we acknowledge our strong belief that God is real, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). Yes, God knows what we are going to ask even before we ask it, but He wants us to show our dependency on Him by praying.

As Christians, prayer should be a part of our daily lives. We should worship God everyday by seeking His counsel through the avenue of prayer. When Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray, He taught them several valuable lessons (Matthew 6:5-15). Jesus tells us to go into a room and shut the door (ver. 6). If you really want to praise God through prayer, you need to be in a place that is apart from distraction. Get away from the TV, and other distracting things, and spend a few minutes alone with God. And, do not impair your prayer by wordiness. Jesus said that we do not have to heap empty phrases at God because He knows what we need before we ask (vers. 7-8).

What should we pray for as Christians? There are a variety of things. Jesus does not give us an exhaustive list; however, what He does tell us to pray for is valuable. He first tells us to pray for the kingdom (ver. 10). Of course, when Jesus taught this, it was before Pentecost; thus, the kingdom (church) had not yet been established. Still, there are many things about which we can pray concerning the kingdom. Praying for the peace and growth of the kingdom is a great thing to do. Praying for the citizenship of the kingdom is something we should all do on a regular basis.

Jesus also teaches us that it is alright to pray for physical provisions from God (ver. 11). We all have physical needs. God cares about these needs, and we should show Him that we trust Him to provide them for us by praying for them. We are truly blessed to have such a good God who is willing to supply all of our needs (Philippians 4:19). When we are humble enough to rely on God, we honor Him. When praying, though, we should remember what is most important to God, and should be to us too, that is, the salvation of our souls. Thus, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might help us overcome the temptations of the devil (ver. 13; Matthew 26:41).

Let us pray regularly for these things and more. Let us pray every day, and when we do, do not forget that we are praying to our Father, the Creator and Sustainer of life, and, therefore , pray with respect and reverence. Jesus said, “Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (ver. 9).

As you wind down for the night, think on these things.