There is no doubt that British Telecom have contributed a great deal to our way of life in this country. But unknowingly they have also left Christians with a good way of thinking about prayer. You may remember their catchy advertising slogan "It’s good to talk". Now this certainly earned the company a great deal of money from new business but it also left Christians with a good way of understanding prayer.

Prayer consists of words spoken from us to God. This may seem to be stating the obvious, but sometimes the obvious needs to be stated, especially in the light of the different views people have of prayer these days. So prayer is not an attitude; a set of pious thoughts; wordless ecstasy; contemplation or listening. God is not a force such that we can relate to him by feeling him. He is not an idea, such that we can relate to him by thinking about him. No God is a person, and so we relate to him by listening and speaking. He speaks to us through the Bible and we speak to him as we pray. And so Christian prayer, in the true Biblical sense, is simply and unashamedly speech, from us to our God. Or, in fact, to be more particular Christian prayer is speech, from us to our heavenly Father. Let me show you what I mean.

Please read Romans 8:15-17. What does this passage of the Bible promise that a Christian is? How should this truth alter our view of who God is and how we should relate to him?

Please read Galatians 3:26. How does one become a son of God?

As Christians we have been born into a family, and we may now come and approach God as Father. Prayer is the activity of God’s children as they speak to him as their Father.

This may seem like a strange question to ask, especially once we realise that, as Christians, we have the awesome privilege of talking to the Creator God. If the God of the universe has invited us to talk with him, it seems almost blasphemous to respond by saying, ‘Yes, but what for?’

But admittedly, in spite of saying all that, it is still a question that does pop into our minds from time to time. So let me just mention a few reasons why prayer matters so much.

• It’s important to God. Perhaps that’s never crossed your mind before. But it is true that God values his relationship with us. It is his great longing that we should get to know him better and enjoy him forever.
• It’s basic to life. You and I were created to have a relationship with God. By creation God made us spiritual creatures and now through Jesus we can at last enjoy that relationship that we were created to have. We enjoy that relationship as we pray.
• It’s vital to growth. We have already seen that like newborn babies we are commanded to grow up in our salvation. Our new life in Christ also makes us thirst for God (we will long to know him better!). But that can only happen when we spend time with him and share with him. Certainly we listen to God speaking to us as we read the Bible but it is also a priority that we speak to him in return.

Please read Matthew 6:5-8. Here Jesus gives a short lesson on prayer.

How should our prayer be different from the prayer of the hypocrite?

How should our prayer be different from the prayer of the pagan?

What would this mean for us in practice?

Please read Matthew 6:9-15. Here Jesus continues his short lesson on prayer.

What does Jesus not say in verse 9?

What do you notice about the opening of the prayer?

In your own words please try and summarise what you think each of the six requests mean.

• Hallowed be your name

• Your kingdom come

• Your will be done

• Give us today our daily bread

• Forgive us our debts

• Lead us not into temptation

What do you notice about the order of the requests?

How can we use this model in our daily prayers?

Now of course this does act as a useful structure and framework for our daily prayers. But even so we must still remember these words from Philippians 4:6-7: