"Pray without ceasing." 1 Thessalonians 5:17

There is this creative tension with prayer - we are to pray all the time, trusting God. God who is sovereign and knows all things wants us to call upon Him. Add to that our tendency to put on a show or just say things without thinking about what they mean and you have a real quandary. In Jesus' day religious fakers abused giving, praying and fasting to get attention. Jesus addresses the issue of prayer in Matthew 6:5-8, a continuation of His contrast between true and false righteousness. He warns His followers of walking in the way of the deceived and deceptive, showing them the straight and narrow. Eugene Peterson said, "Prayer is answering speech. The first word is God’s word. Prayer is a human word and is never the first word, never the primary word, never the initiating and shaping word simply because we are never first, never primary.”