Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him – Matthew 6:8
Today’s verse is a part of Jesus’ sermon on the mount, where He teaches us lessons on how to live our lives. In this passage, Jesus begins teaching on how we shouldn’t be praying, before going into how we ought to pray.
Jesus is teaching us not to pray like the gentiles, as they keep on repeating the same words in prayer. They think that heaping up repetitious phrases would gain God’s attention. Our God knows all our needs even before we ask Him, because He is an all knowing God(Omnicient). Prayer is about our confidence in the Father’s knowing our needs and responding to them! With this understanding, our prayers need not be special or fancy, but just heartfelt and come from a genuine heart with absolute trust in Him! When we go to Him in prayer, we should definitely expect an answer from Him, surrendering humbly to His sovereign will and timing!
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16