There is over a billion dollars of gift cards that go unused every year.

Dr. Tony Evans says people often forget about things that cost them nothing,

which raises this question.

How many prayers have gone unanswered because we didn't cash in?

This is the alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oaklev Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas,

and president of the Urban Alternative.

When we've got nowhere else to turn, we usually think about praying to God to help us out of a difficult situation.

But today Dr. Evans talks about the not-so-erge and kind of prayer that can help us avoid those circumstances altogether.

Let's join him as he explains.

Because there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of passages that deal with returning to God through prayer,

I thought I would take the one today that you know best.

It is the one known more by more people everywhere, and it is the one recited most often.

We call it the Lord's Prayer.

I want to call your attention to Matthew 6, and just walk through this pattern of prayer.

It really isn't a prayer to be repeated.

It is a pattern to give you guidance.

God wasn't just looking for you to quote the Lord's Prayer.

He was giving us a pattern to guide us as we pray.

So he's going to say in verse 6, pray in this way or like this.

This section on prayer is introduced with a phrase, notice verse 5, when you pray, notice verse 6, when you pray, notice verse 7, when you pray.

None of these verses say if you pray.

God's understanding is that prayer is going to be a vital part of the serious Christians life.

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