Prayer is something that should be a part of our lives daily throughout the day. There are all kinds of different ways Christians choose to pray.

In Luke 18:10-14, Jesus gives this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

Where to do it
Where we pray can have an impact on the intentions behind our prayers and how they manifest. Prayer isn't about performance, but when praying in the presence of others it can risk becoming so. When Jesus teaches his disciples about prayer in Matthew 6:6, he tells them to go to their room to pray in secret. What we learn from his instruction is that it's important to spend time alone with God because when we are surrounded by others in prayer our focus can shift to what our prayer may be communicating to them, instead of what we're communicating to God.

Jesus didn't just tell his disciples to pray alone, he also practised it. "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed," Mark 1:35. Prayer can help us to know inner peace, but sometimes we need to take ourselves away from others to experience this. In addition to providing us with the optimum environment for encountering the peace that prayer can bring, meeting with God alone can also motivate us to approach Him with good intentions.But this isn't to say that we can't ever pray with others, that's encouraged too in Matthew 18:19, for example, where it says, "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."

Why we do it
Prayer acts as a tool of communication between us and God. The accounts of Jesus' own prayers are representative of a conversation between him and his Father. As with any conversation, there are many reasons why we might pray. Some of the ones that Jesus highlights are: to ask God to help us "not fall into temptation" (Luke 22:40,46), to forgive us our sins and to have mercy on us; to humble ourselves and to receive the support we need to successfully undertake a spiritual challenge. What's revealed to us through Jesus' examples, parables and teachings is that there's no problem too big for us to bring to God and there's no limit on how many times we can talk to Him about something.


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Jesus never instructed his disciples to worship him
‘When you pray, say Our Father which art in heaven.’ (Luke 11:2)

‘In that day, you shall ask me nothing. Whatsoever you ask of the Father in my name.’ (John 16:23)

‘The hour cometh and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him.’ (John 4:23)

Jibril659:
Jesus never instructed his disciples to worship him
‘When you pray, say Our Father which art in heaven.’ (Luke 11:2)

‘In that day, you shall ask me nothing. Whatsoever you ask of the Father in my name.’ (John 16:23)

‘The hour cometh and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him.’ (John 4:23)

What have you just said?

You jumped this “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30)