Welcome to the In Touch podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, October 15th.

Do you ever wonder if you are praying about the right things?

Today you'll discover a pattern for prayer that's accurate and relevant every time.

Here's more in the series on Learning to Pray the Bible Way.

When you pray, what is the primary objective of your prayer? Is it to get

something from God? Well, if that is, there's nothing wrong with that because Jesus said,

asking it shall be given you, seeking you shall find, knocking it shall be open unto you.

And all through the scriptures, we're admonished to ask for our needs. But if that is the primary objective

of your prayer, you're missing something. Because from God's point of view, the primary objective

of our prayer should be fellowship and communion with the Father. But most people's idea of praying

is you just ask God for what you want and he'll give it to you sooner or later

and if you live in right you're surely getting if you're not maybe you want that's not what

praying is all about but because many people sense that as a method of talking to God and they

call it prayer and that's the way they pray. Their prayer after a while

becomes ritualistic and sort of perfunctory. It's something they sort of get through. After they've

given their list, it's in Jesus' name. They're on their way. Not much time. And what happens is

after a while it gets sort of dull. Because after a while also, there are not many answers that come.

And so if there are not many answers coming, and that's what you're primarily after,

then why keep talking to God who's not answering your prayer?

There is a prayer that millions of people have prayed that God will not answer.

And there's a reason for it. And I want you to turn to that prayer. It's found in the sermon of the Mount in Matthew chapter six. You and I call it

the Lord's Prayer. It is a pattern prayer. And that's the title of this message, a pattern for prayer.

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