Lord, teach us to pray...

I have always loved reciting The Lord's Prayer!  This is the first real prayer I was taught as a child and it has always been my go-to prayer when I couldn't think of what else to say.  Most of my praying these days is a conversation with God and Jesus and (most recently) the Holy Spirit, either singularly or to all at the same time!  But for the last few months, I have started each and every day with the Lord's Prayer.
 
Why is that, you might wonder.  As I was spending time with my dad and my family during Dad's journey with CJD, we learned that Dad loved to say The Lord's Prayer and that it had a very calming effect on him.  I started thinking about the words in the prayer and, upon reflection, realized that it really is the most perfect of prayers.

A version of the prayer appears in both Matthew (6:9-13) and in Luke (11:1-4) and in both of these cases it is Jesus teaching others how to pray.  In Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples to guard against hypocrisy and wordiness and pridefulness.  Jesus tells them that the "Father knows what you need before you ask him."  Our prayers with God are not a show for others but should be a private conversation with God.  In Luke, Jesus again taught the disciples how to pray and then told them to persevere in their prayer.

 The main point is that we should spend alone time with God each day, sharing our day, both our joys and our concerns.  Often times, Jesus went off by himself to spend time with God.


 
So what is the substance of prayer?  It looks like we need to recognize that God is holy and that we believe and desire His covenant with us.  We can depend on God to help us daily and forgiveness is important - and it works both ways!  God will forgive us as we forgive others!  And don't forget to ask for God's help in keeping us away from evil and temptation because our ultimate reward is so worth it!

God doesn't ask us to learn and repeat the same prayer over and over, He is looking for a conversation with us, time alone with us, and for the conversation to continue always! 

So keep on talking with God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and know that they love hearing from you!  I will keep you in my prayers!  And Dad, when you hear me reciting the Lord's Prayer, it is in your memory!