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shut your door

Matthew 6:6 & 7
"6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking."

Jesus is teaching us that our prayers are a private matter between us and God. Today's verses underscore this; "shut thy door" and "pray... in secret." Jesus is cautioning us from trying to attract attention and admiration with our praying. We don't need to be elaborate, unusual or even remarkable with our prayers. Just pray from your heart! 

Jesus provides another cautionary example with; "...use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." Again and again in the Holy Bible we see the emphasis on the heart over the mind. God wants our genuine expression and not a put on or fake expression. We need to get used to sharing with God the language of our hearts. 

A handy guide for us expressing ourselves to GOD is to remember the acronym "ACTS."
Adoration 
Confession 
Thanksgiving 
Supplication

Our prayers begin with Adoration. This is praise and glory for GOD.  Confession continues our prayer as we vocalize to God our shortcomings and failures. We know Jesus paid for the sins we are confessing. So, it is easy to flow into Thanksgiving. As we have been studying; we owe literally everything to God. We can't thank God enough. And, yet, we have needs and wants. We get to make personal request to God in our Supplication. We can beg when necessary. God knows us and our real needs better than we do. Closing the prayer with "Amen" is always good.
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