The wordPrayappears in the Holy Bible 362 times, & It is something Jesus asks His followers to do in an empty & meaningless way. You look up the definition of what to pray for; you may see the word petition, but in common everyday speech, it is a way to communicate with our Creator Father God. When I first became a Christian I didn’t know how to pray to God, my only experience is asking for a blessing over my families meal, when my parents ask me to. So it took me some time to develop a relationship with the Lord, for me to open myself in apetitionto ask God to listen to words of communication to Him. But enough about me & my prayer life, & more into what Jesus is teaching His followings during the Sermon on the Mount. The preaching In Matthew 6:1-8 so far seems to teach Jesus followers to make your relationship or religion real the Lord & not make it a hypocrisy. The word hypocrisy in Matthew 6 is the Greek ὑπόκρισις (hypokrisis), the word was most used by actors in a stage performance, so actor were normally calledhypocrites. The ancient Greek speaking world knew hypocrites, got paid to pretend to be characters in play & Jesus is telling His followers, please don’t be a pretender in your prayer, His saying be 100% real. Of course the Lord knows what His children need & want, but still He wants to hear from them. He is our Father God & just like any parent, He loves to hear our voice & the word of God says our prayers are a pleasant smell to Him, compare them to like incense smoke rising up to heaven.
God doesn’t want His children to try to win a best performance act in your prayer life. I have heard people in many ways, once for a real long time before a thanksgiving dinner & sometimes in ancient King James English, as if that old English language is more holy than modern English. Sometimes I hear people pray in a language I can’t understand, I wonder if that performance act is for the Lord or an individual prayer. The Holy Bible tells those who are students of His word, whose prayer God answers & who it doesn’t. When the worshiper of the church can’t hear the difference from real prayer or hypocrisy, each individual will know if the person’s prayer is answered. God bless you all, the Lord Jesus loves you & so do I. Samuel