How did Jesus tell us to pray?

Answer 1

Enter a closet and pray in secret.

Please note I have not deleted the below but this is Matthew saying what he thinks you should do not Jesus so it is not answering the question.....

Matthew 6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Alternate answer

Jesus didn't tell us anything - The Bible and all other religious texts are not primary sources of information. Most of them were written a long time after the time when Jesus was supposed to be around and have been translated and edited over and over during the course of history.

As a result, nobody, not even the Pope or a bishop, can realistically know what jesus did or didn't say or want people to do. The people who wrote (or translated the bible) had their own agenda.

As illustrated by the above people just extract snippets of the bible that suits what they believe, so you may as well do the same. The Bible is so riddled with contradictions that you should easily be able to find a verse to support whatever you want to do.....

Just look at the difference between the old and New Testament to see how the story and presentation of God was changed by authors to further their own needs and agenda.

If you believe in god you are better off making your own decisions on what you are comfortable doing, if you want to pray do it, if not, don't - in the big scheme of things it makes no difference.