Jesus teaches how to pray

Nearly everybody prays … when the plane is going to crash! But most of us find it so difficult that we don’t make a habit of it. So first, Jesus explains a few mistakes we make.

We don’t have to use religious words; simple words are perfectly acceptable. We are not heard because we pray for a long time. This prayer is very short. And we are not meant to bring God a shopping list of our requests. We should begin by looking up at his smiling face and saying ‘Daddy’ which is the meaning of the Aramaic word that Jesus used. It’s a familiar, warm, family word.

Prayer isn’t about persuading God to do what we want. It is humbly agreeing with what he wants. His name to be honoured and not used as a swear word, his will to have power in our broken world, and his reign as king of this world to grow worldwide.

Only then should we come with our requests: for our physical needs, for daily forgiveness when we fail, and for his strength to stop our bad habits. It ends wonderfully. If we make him king in our lives today, he will give us the strength we need. And we must give him thanks for it all!

Prayer like that is powerful. Let’s make use of the Lord’s Prayer, either by itself or as a series of topics, for our prayers.