⁵ “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. ⁶ But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Matthew 6:5-6

Dear God, I admit that when I chose to put these prayer journals up to you on a blog for public consumption, I struggled with verse 5. Should I be doing this so publicly? What are my motives? Am I trying to impress people? But there are some things that have basically made me okay with this. First, for 95% of the people who read this, I am anonymous. They don’t know me. There are only a handful of people who see this who know who I am, and even they aren’t a daily part of my life.

Second, there’s a level of accountability here. The idea that I know people are seeing this helps keep me accountable for coming and doing this. Not that any of them will really notice if I skip a day or two. But in my head, I feel like it’s important for me to be here.

Third, there might be something in what I pray that will be a blessing to others. It’s a way of touching a stranger and sharing our journeys in your Spirit together.

Finally, and this is my main reason, I want to hopefully inspire people to do the same thing themselves. To open up your scripture and learn from you through it. Have the Holy Spirit sit with them as you do with me. And sometimes I hear you incorrectly. Sometimes I get it wrong. But I believe just the act of sitting with you day after day, continuously, cannot help but develop the fruit of your Spirit within me.

Father, I offer this prayer to you. I need you. I need you today. I need you in my life. I need you to teach me through your scripture and through the media and friends I allow into my life. If I am the average of the five people with whom I spend the most time, help me to pick those five people wisely, including those who speak to me through podcasts and videos. I want to me more and more like you every day. That will only happen if you are one of the five–the first among the five. Help me to get there today.

I offer this prayer to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen