Main Idea
One of the biggest indicators of our spiritual life is how we pray or whether we pray at all. Many of us stop praying, not out of laziness, but because we feel like God doesn’t hear us. Jesus begins His teaching on prayer with two powerful words: ‘Our Father.’ These words are not just comforting they’re transformational. Jesus is inviting us into a new kind of relationship with God—a relationship not built on performance, but on adoption.
Scripture
Matthew 6: 1-15
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
John 17:23
23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Discussion Questions
- Icebreaker: Have you ever had a time where you really needed someone to just listen to you? What made that moment meaningful?
- Why do you think many people view prayer as a performance instead of a relationship? Have you ever caught yourself praying that way?
- Read Matthew 6:5–8. What does this passage tell us about God’s priorities when we pray?
- How has your understanding of God as “Father” shaped or reshaped your prayer life?
- What’s one area where you’ve felt like God is silent or distant? How does the truth of being adopted into God’s family speak to that situation?
Moving Forward
God is not distant, He is your Father. So when you pray, you’re not trying to get God’s attention. You already have it. Build a rhythm of secret, personal prayer not for performance but for connection.
