The Bible Study Podcast, episode 50.

This is the ninth episode in a series about what the church is and what it's called to be.

And this episode will focus on prayer.

Welcome to the Bible study podcast. I'm your host, Chris Christensen.

One of the oldest and most consistent themes that runs through the Bible, Old Testament and New, is a call for God's people to pray.

Whether it be the verses in Second Chronicles chapter 7 at the dedication of the temple,

if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray,

and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,

then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Or whether it be verses from the New Testament, where we

constantly see Jesus spending time and prayer, and we see the disciples asking how to pray

and receiving from Jesus what we know is the Lord's Prayer, is a theme that is both talked about

as well as demonstrated by Jesus and by the disciples as well as by the Old Testament people of God.

And when we talk about prayer, clearly Jesus' intention, as he gives instructions before he gives the Lord's prayer, is authentic prayer.

It's not showy prayer.

It's not prayer for public spectacle or prayer whose intent is to make others

think that we are more holy than we are. And so Jesus and Matthew 6 gives these instructions.

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 men. I tell you the truth,

they have received their reward in full. 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. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard

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