The LORD’s Prayer

Today’s a good day for an honest truth, sometimes I find prayer difficult!  There are days the words don’t seem to flow, or all the words are about me and what I think I need, or even days when I skip praying all together because of my inability to say no to people or the busyness of the day.  There is never a time when the LORD is not in my thoughts and short prayers are peppered throughout my day.  The prayer I’m talking about is time spent before the Father, waiting on Him, intentional, focused prayer.  Can anyone else relate?

Something often forgotten is that Jesus himself taught us how to pray, He gave us an example, telling us to pray in this way.  We call this The LORD’s Prayer, and I like so many others learned to recite this prayer when I was just ‘knee-high to a grasshopper!’  Or really little!  You can find this way of praying in Matthew 6:9-13.

“𝑰𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚:

𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏, 𝑯𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆.

𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆. 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑶𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏.

𝑮𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅.

𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒃𝒕𝒔, 𝑨𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒃𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔.

𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒖𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒍 𝒐𝒏𝒆.

𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓. 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒏.”

Studying this sacred prayer, this roadmap to a fulfilling and fervent prayer life has helped me in so many ways, especially on the days I find difficult.  It is a prayer that is breathtaking in its beauty, resplendent in revelation, and packed with power.  If you take the time to focus on the words, consider what you are saying and not merely repeat it by routine you will rediscover the precious words of Jesus that will breathe new life into your rhythm of prayer.  Interesting to note that just a few verses earlier Jesus said, “𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚, 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒐.” (vs 7) Mindlessly repeating the LORD’s prayer without thought will not achieve anything.

Tomorrow we’ll dive a little deeper into this prayer and see what God unfolds, but today, I invite you to take a moment and say the LORD’s Prayer with me and as we do really think about the words we are saying.  Say it out loud so that it echoes through your soul – “𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓…”