Prayer has always been a struggle for me. Memorized prayers as a child rolled off easily enough. But talking was never my strong point and there were many reasons for my difficulty in putting together a meaningful prayer. First there is focus, and then there is intimidation by all the teachings and by people who speak and pray grandly in front of crowds. And finally, there is the problem with what I believe. Do my prayers ever go further than the wall or ceiling? Does God really care about what I am saying?
But things are different now. Why? I’m glad you asked.
One day as I was pondering prayer and trying yet again to figure out how to have an effective prayer time with God that lasted more than 5 minutes, wasn’t reading down a list of requests, and actually connected me to God, it occurred to me that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. He didn’t launch into a 10-week course on learning to pray. He prayed. It is recorded for us in Matthew 6. So I began to ponder His prayer.
Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
This is recognizing who God is. As we pray, sometimes we need to know He is our Creator, or Healer, or the One who sees us. He is our all in all and everything we will ever need in this life and the next! There is power in His name and we take that seriously and honor Him with reverence. This is putting things in perspective. He is God and I am the created one who has been given the privilege of coming to Him and meeting with Him.
May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
As I have read and studied Scripture, I have come to understand much about the Kingdom. It is here and present and at work in this life. It is what connects us to God and to each other if we believe. This is the place in the prayer that is very open to intercession. As I look at the plans on my date planner, I pray for His presence and His voice to be heard in the meetings with individuals or groups. I talk with God about my family asking for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done as I interact with them. I ask to bear fruit for His Kingdom as I interact with others. I ask for His Kingdom to come and His will be done in the lives of those I am mentoring. This brings about an awareness that I am in this world, but not of this world. I am part of God’s Kingdom and it is forcefully advancing as we focus on Him and watch for Him to move and become part of the movement.
Give us today the food we need.
He is my provider. I acknowledge that and thank Him for all He provides for me day after day. I pray over the garden and fruit and berry producing bushes and trees. This is the place I can make my requests known to Him and trust that He has it all worked out. I can ask for a generous heart to share the blessings He has so lovingly given to me and wisdom to know when and where to share them.
and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
At this point, if I am not acutely aware of any sins I have committed or have been committed against me, I stop and ask the Holy Spirit to show me if there is anything that needs to be dealt with. I keep my planner nearby and if something comes to mind, I jot a note to remind myself to be obedient to what was shown to me if I need to ask someone else for forgiveness. I take the time to process any offense done against me to fully release it to God and be freed to love the other person well and not let anything come between us. It has been amazing to me that God has helped me deal with things from the past that I had buried and forgotten about. I walk in so much more freedom when I take the time to clear out anything that is bothering me.
And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
Temptation comes when we listen to lies and deceive ourselves. So I pray that God will expose any lies I am believing and show me His Truth. Again, I pause to see if there is anything He wants to show me that I need to deal with today. And then I pray His protection over me, over my family, and over those I love.
For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever! AMEN!
While this is not recorded in Matthew, it has been added to the prayer as we recite it. Again, it puts into perspective who God is and my desire to bring glory to Him by how I live my life daily. And all that I have talked about with God gets an Amen – so be it.
The amazing thing about approaching prayer this way is that it has changed from a recitation of prayer requests to a conversation with the One who knows me intimately, who has declared His love for me, and who is my Protector, Healer, Deliverer, and the One I trust. And like any relationship that is that intimate, time goes by so quickly and I hate to end it. And while the deeper conversation has to close, I can still chat with Him throughout the day as things happen.
All glory and honor to the One who saved me!
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