5 Days to a New Reality of Trust, Connection, and Authenticity With GodSample

Glory Be

I grew up in a church that emphasized memorized or pre-written prayers. From an early age, I was saying prayers long before I understood them. I have often wondered if that was the best way to learn how to talk to God. There are so many moments where I feel a prayer from the heart could be more useful.

After all, Jesus tells us in Matthew 6: “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

But as I have gotten older, I’ve come to appreciate the “core” prayers we learn as children. They are a foundation to be built upon, and they help set our minds and hearts in the right direction.

In the first verse of chapter 11 in Luke’s Gospel, one of the disciples makes a bold and beautiful request.

“Lord, teach us to pray.”

This moves me, because I have asked Jesus the same thing. There have been times where I wanted to speak to God properly, with reverence but also authenticity – times where I just wanted to be in His presence, butwasn’t quite sure how to put myself there.

Jesus responds to the disciple by teaching them the Lord’s Prayer.In a sense, it covers all of the bases. It’s helpful to have the words to pray – available within arm’s reach – when we don’t know what to say or when we need to be reminded.

Another prayer I learned as a kid was the “Glory Be” prayer.

“Glory be to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, amen.”

The prayer reminds us that the glory belongs to God. It always has, it always will. And saying the prayer helps me get into alignment with that reality. It helps me say, “In my life, may this be true. May God get all the glory. In the ups and downs, in my successes and failures — in everything — may the glory be to God.”

I love that prayer so much that I wrote a song inspired by it, simply called “Glory Be.”

PRAYER

Lord, help us approach you with peace and confidence, trusting that you know what we need before we ask. May our lives declare your glory. Amen.