Do you ever struggle with prayer? Maybe you find yourself confused about what to pray. Or having heard other people pray, perhaps you think you have to find “better words” to pray. (You don’t.) Some people worry about praying out loud. Some worry that their prayers aren’t heard. I think God is pleased to hear us pray in our own words from our humble heart…to the heart of God. What we call “The Lord’s Prayer” is the model Jesus gave for approaching prayer. If you want to pray this prayer, don’t rush through it. Instead, reflect on the words and what you are really saying.

 

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Quiet your heart and mind. Close your eyes or keep them open. Stand, kneel, sit or lie down. It is the posture of your humble heart that our Holy God seeks.  Focus on who God is: Almighty, Faithful, Loving, Merciful, Wise, Just, Holy, All-Knowing, Without End, Fortress, Refuge, Rock of Salvation, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Praising Him who is worthy of all your praise. 

Your kingdom come, 

God’s kingdom is the kingdom of love, peace, and joy, of truth and righteousness.   Ask Him to bring these into your life and the world.

 

your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Your Heavenly Father wants what is truly best for you. Ask Him for His good, pleasing, and perfect will to be revealed and carried out.

 

Give us this day our daily bread,

What do you most need today? Patience, perseverance, courage, wisdom? Ask God for these things He most desires for you.

 

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Ask God to reveal your wrong thinking and behaving, any persons that you have hurt and those whom you haven’t forgiven for hurts they caused. Not forgiving binds up our heart with cords of bitterness and anger. Give it up to God. Confess and find the freedom of forgiveness.

 

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Our greatest need is to be protected from evil and its temptations. Tell God the specific temptations that bother you. Ask Him to protect you from their crippling lies and to give you strength and courage to be faithful to His truth.

 

For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.

Your prayer is an expression of your trust in God’s power and glory. Thank Him for demonstrating His power and glory throughout history and in your own life. Thank Him for inviting you into His kingdom.

 

Amen. 

Saying Amen is an affirmation that you agree with what has been prayed. These are not just words you’ve memorized. They are the expression of your heart’s desires to God.