How to pray

There are many sayings today about prayer, such as: “The power of the Christian is in prayer”. I would add that a well-trained Christian with the Bible and the frequent use of prayer is in a very good direction.

The Sacred Discipline: Unveiling the Essence of Communion

Prayer should be something we do frequently, Jesus Himself said: “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation”. Definitely prayer is a weapon that every Christian must possess and at the same time it is something that we will always have a great struggle with. Remember when Jesus said to His disciples: “So you could not watch with me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40). The struggle to remain vigilant in prayer is a universal experience for every believer, as the flesh often resists the quiet intensity of communion with the Divine. However, this difficulty is the very crucible where our spiritual muscles are built, proving that true prayer is not a light endeavor, but a profound engagement of the human spirit with the Almighty. Consistency is the mark of those who have understood that their spiritual survival depends on this constant connection.

Many new believers ask themselves: “How to pray?”. And it is strangely that in the churches people are not taught to pray, and that is why many people make incorrect prayers before God and all this because they do not know how to pray. Did you know that in several versicles from the Bible Jesus taught us the correct way to pray? And today we are going to study an appointment where Jesus told us about prayer:

5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Matthew 6:5-8

The Sanctuary of the Secret Place

Jesus in these verses expresses prayer as something totally private, I mean, as something that is not to show greatness, as to make men praise us for our prayers full of fervor and good lexicon, rather, prayer is the opportunity to speak directly with God, to tell Him our problems, to bring before Him our causes and sometimes beyond all this, simply to be silent before Him and to contemplate His beauty. True prayer thrives in the anonymity of the secret place, far from the gaze of men where our motives remain pure and focused solely on the Father. When we strip away the desire for human approval, we find the freedom to be truly vulnerable, expressing our deepest fears and our most audacious hopes before the One who hears the unspoken language of the heart.

Leonard Ravenhill said: “Prayer is a window into eternity.” This is so dear brothers, prayer alone with God is one of the greatest experiences we can enjoy as Christians. This window allows us to see our current challenges from the vantage point of heaven, transforming our confusion into clarity and our anxiety into quiet confidence. Stepping into the secret room is effectively stepping into the presence of the Eternal, where the constraints of space and time lose their grip, and we find ourselves enveloped in the grace that sustains every atom of our existence.

Exchanging Performance for Presence

Jesus has taught us in these verses that prayer is only about throwing our crowns before the only one who is great and worthy, it is not a scene where we try to impress God or make the false attempt that men notice that we know how to pray. The surrender of our “crowns”—our achievements, our self-image, and our reputation—is the fundamental act of worship. We do not come to God to demonstrate our eloquence, but to acknowledge His absolute sovereignty. This shift in focus effectively kills the ego, which is the primary obstacle to a life of effective prayer. True prayer begins when we stop talking to impress ourselves or others and start listening to hear His voice.

This is one of the teachings that Jesus gives us about prayer, we hope that in one way or another these words have served to build communion with the Lord. Building communion is a deliberate act of spiritual architecture, requiring us to clear away the debris of worldly distractions and lay a firm foundation of intimacy. Every moment spent in private devotion is a brick in this house of prayer, creating a dwelling place where the Spirit can move freely and where our relationship with Christ can grow deep roots that will sustain us through the most turbulent seasons of life. We must prioritize this daily habit as the essential oxygen of the Christian soul.

Refining the Content of Our Petitions

When we study these words of Jesus in a deeper way, we realize that He was pointing to a problem that still exists today: the human tendency to turn something sacred into a spectacle. Prayer was never designed to be a performance or a spiritual competition. It is rather the intimate moment where the soul opens itself before its Creator, where the heart finds rest and where the believer learns to trust in God beyond what the eyes can see. To treat prayer as a performance is to misunderstand the very nature of grace. Grace is a gift, not a trophy earned through the articulation of complex requests. Our prayers should be a mirror reflecting our total reliance on His mercy, rather than an elaborate display of our perceived spiritual sophistication.

Many times we struggle in prayer because we believe we must find perfect words, but Jesus emphasizes that the Father already knows our needs even before we speak, which brings great relief to the sincere Christian. The relief of knowing our Father is omniscient allows us to be simple and direct. We are not informing God of our situation, we are inviting Him into it. This changes the texture of our petitioning, shifting the burden of the answer from our ability to describe the problem to His power to transform the reality. Simplicity is the hallmark of spiritual maturity, revealing that we have moved past the need to explain ourselves and have entered into the restful trust of a child with their parent.

The Anatomy of the Inner Room

Another important aspect of these verses is that Jesus invites us to enter into our “closet,” which not only refers to a physical place but also symbolizes the inner room of the heart. It is the space where no distractions interrupt and where we can be transparent before God without masks or appearances. In that secret place, the believer learns to confess weaknesses, to express gratitude, and to align his desires with the perfect will of God. The inner room is a place of radical transparency where we stop pretending. It is here that we are truly formed, as the light of God’s holiness shines into the dark corners of our character, inviting us to repent and renew our dedication to His service. Consistency in this place will inevitably show in the public life of the believer, who will carry the peace and authority of the secret place into every interaction.

Furthermore, Jesus warns us not to use vain repetitions. This does not mean that persistence in prayer is wrong—since Jesus Himself taught perseverance—but that our words should not become empty formulas. God seeks honesty, not eloquence. A short and sincere prayer can have more spiritual value than a long and repetitive speech without true intention. The goal is not to impress God but to open our hearts before Him. Repetition without engagement is spiritual inertia, whereas persistence with purpose is the engine of change. We must learn to distinguish between the holy persistence of a wrestling heart and the empty sound of a mindless ritual. The former brings heaven to earth; the latter simply makes noise in the air.

The Refreshing Nature of Divine Communion

When we practice prayer in the way Jesus taught, we discover that communion with the Father becomes a source of refreshment in our daily walk. It strengthens us against temptation, aligns our priorities, and helps us discern the voice of God in the midst of the noise of life. Prayer is not merely a religious obligation; it is a divine gift that allows us to enter into the presence of the Almighty and find grace in times of need. This refreshment is the supernatural antidote to the exhaustion of a world without God. It is in these moments of communion that we recalibrate our moral compass, ensuring that every decision we make in our daily lives is aligned with the rhythm of heaven. True prayer produces a quiet, unshakeable strength that makes us formidable in the face of any temptation, as our identity is firmly rooted in the One to whom we have spoken.

May these teachings encourage us to cultivate a life of private, sincere, and consistent prayer, understanding that in the secret place, God forms our character, hears our petitions, and rewards the devotion of those who seek Him with a humble and contrite heart. Cultivating a life of prayer is the most important investment a Christian can ever make. The rewards are not merely temporal, but eternal, as the time spent in the secret place creates an unbreakable bond that will endure long after our earthly journey has concluded. Take the step today to close the door on the world and open the door to the Father’s presence, trusting that He is waiting for you in that secret room with a heart full of grace, a listening ear, and the transformative power of His eternal love. Your prayer life is the measure of your walk with God, and by strengthening it, you are ensuring that your life will bear fruit that lasts. Remain faithful, remain humble, and remain expectant, for the One who seeth in secret is ready to reward your devotion with the fullness of His glory, guiding your steps in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake. This is the promise for the faithful seeker, a promise that has been fulfilled through the ages and will be fulfilled in your life, providing you with the peace that surpasses all understanding, the wisdom to navigate any storm, and the unwavering assurance that you are deeply, perfectly, and eternally loved by the Father. Go into your closet, bow your heart, and find the power that will change your world, one sincere word at a time, for He is listening and He is ready to answer according to His perfect, wonderful, and sovereign will for you today.