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“This, then, is how you should 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 today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’

(Matthew 6: 9-13 NIV)

So, now that we know what prayer is let’s explore how to pray.

Thankfully, Jesus taught us how to pray, which is recorded in the Bible!

The verse above teaches us these key principles when it comes to offering our prayers to God:

• GOD IS HOLY. Acknowledge God’s deity. That He is in Heaven, and we are on earth. That His name should be kept holy. Honour Him for who He is and all He has blessed you with, for what He has already done in your life, and for His presence amongst us.
• GOD HAS A WILL. Ask for God’s will in your life and the lives of those you are praying for. Ask Him to have His way, as this will always be the best way for us and others. Ask that His ways become our ways.
• GOD PROVIDES. Ask God for provision – what do you need from Him today? What do you need for yourself? For others? God is not mean; He loves to bless His children – He can’t help Himself! He’s patient with hearing about our wants and our needs. Talk to Him about them.
• WE NEED FORGIVENESS. Ask for God’s forgiveness and then walk this out in repentance (repentance means to do a 180-degree turn from what we’ve done wrong and to walk in the opposite direction, towards what is right.) Apologise and ask God to help you make the necessary changes in your life.
• WE NEED TO FORGIVE. Ask God to help you forgive others who may have wronged you somehow. Ask Him to soften your heart towards them and to release you from holding any grudges that will only weigh you down.
• TEMPTATION IS REAL. Ask God to protect you from the many temptations in our world. To keep your way pure and blameless.
• WE HAVE AN ENEMY. Ask God to rescue you from the snare of our enemy – Satan – and to protect you from harm. Ask Him to guard you against the enemy’s schemes in your life.

These are very basic explanations of how Jesus taught us to pray; you may find different details in The Lord’s Prayer that mean more to you and your personal prayer life - go with that!

The key point to remember is that prayer can consist of a few different elements, and as long as we cover them all in one way or another, we will have a well-rounded prayer life with God.

Now that we have covered prayer as a basic of the Christian faith, let’s move on to another element of walking with Jesus that can be a part of our everyday life...