Learning How to Talk to God

Prayer Cautions (5-8)

• If you don’t pray in private, you don’t have any business praying in public.
• If your motive is to impress people, then your prayer doesn’t actually address God.
• Prayer isn’t imploring a distant God, but it is seeking your approachable Father.

Prayer Considerations (9)

• The Lord’s Prayer was meant to serve more as a template than a script.
• It is revealing that Jesus never included any singular first-person pronouns in the Lord’s Prayer.
• Jesus’ prayer focused the first half on His Father and the second half on His people.

Prayer Categories (10-13)

• Father – Don’t rush through prayer without marveling that our Father who lives in heaven desires to hear from us.
• Kingdom – Pray that the type of eager obedience in heaven would be observable in this world.
• Provision – Don’t pray for tomorrow’s butter if you haven’t acknowledged our need for today’s bread.
• Forgiveness – Acknowledge our sin against God and address the sin between each other.
• Protection – Request help with any troubled areas of temptation present in our lives.

Prayer Guide

1. What do you need to say to our Father this week?
2. How should you pray for our church’s Kingdom impact?
3. What needs of ours can you ask God to meet?
4. What sin needs to be reconciled?
5. What areas do we need help in fighting against temptation?