Daily Bible Verses for 5/3/2016

Bible Verse
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

Reading Notes
Jesus is speaking to the people and giving instruction and guidance on the things of God and how they relate to our spiritual life. In this section of scripture, Jesus is speaking about our prayer life and He had just given an example of the hypocrite who prays in public so everyone will hear how religious he sounds. While there is a place for public worship and prayer, Jesus is speaking here about our private prayer life, which means He is speaking about our hearts toward God. God knows what we need before we ask it, this means prayer is not for letting God know what we want, but instead to share with God our weaknesses, our joys, our hearts and our life. Prayer is to help us understand God’s will and to help us build our relationship with God. Our individual prayers help us to better align our will with God’s will. In addition, they also help us to effectively support others by bringing the power of God into the lives of people around us.

Those who are in need of God’s guidance, support, strengthening and salvation. Prayer is about relationship and the communication of prayer is meant to strengthen our relationship with God. Just as we desire a relationship with our family and loved ones, so too, God desires a relationship with us. Our faith in Jesus reestablishes our relationship with God, and our prayer life, helps to build that relationship stronger. Because of Jesus, we can now by faith come before God the Father in prayer. Our prayer life is one of the primary ways we build our relationship with God. A relationship which is meant to be private and heart felt and is not meant as a public display of our spirituality. The price Jesus paid on the Cross of Calvary cleared the way, allowing us to come before a Holy God as His children. What Jesus did for us, placed us in a close relationship with God. And it’s through our private prayers and study of His word, the Bible, that we build that relationship stronger.