How should we pray? Thankfully Jesus answers that question for us, but before he does, he lays out a set of preliminary instructions and assumptions concerning prayer that are crucial for us to understand if we are going to be heard by God.

Lacking the desire to pray is a universal Christian experience—and one of the most universally discouraging. Why is praying so difficult? In this first message in our series on the "Lord's Prayer" passage in Matthew 6, we'll take a look at some foundational practical and theological realities that underly the work of prayer.