Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing your prayer and your gratitude for another day the Lord has given. Coming before Him with thanksgiving is right and pleasing to Him, and He delights to hear His people call upon Him.
Jesus gave the prayer you quoted as a model for how to pray, not simply as words to repeat from memory. It shows the pattern that all prayer can follow. It begins with worship, recognizing who God is and honoring His name, and it ends in the same place, acknowledging that the kingdom and the power and the glory belong to Him. In between it covers the whole of our life with Him.
That first phrase, Our Father in heaven, speaks of relationship. We can only truly call Him Father when we have become His children through faith in Jesus Christ. That relationship is what makes prayer real and effective. If that relationship is not yet settled, the prayer God most desires to hear first is, God be merciful to me, a sinner, which opens the way to become His child and to know the full privilege of prayer.
The pattern Jesus gave also teaches us what prayer is for. Its purpose is not to get our own will done, but to see His will done on earth as it is in heaven. Prayer begins with God and His purposes, He puts those desires on our hearts, we bring them back to Him in prayer, and He then accomplishes them. So we pray, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, aligning our hearts with what He wants to do.
Then comes our daily dependence, Give us today our daily bread, a simple trust for what we need today. Then the need for forgiveness, and the call to extend that same forgiveness to others. Then the request for guidance and protection, that He would lead us away from temptation and deliver us from the evil one.
You do not need long or perfect words for God to hear you. The prayers recorded in Scripture are often very short. What matters is a sincere heart. The fervent, heartfelt prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Prayer is not a way to change God's mind, but a way for God to change things through us as we stay close to Him.
So continue in prayer and stay alert with thanksgiving, as Scripture encourages. Keep bringing your daily needs, your need for grace, and your desire to see His will done before Him. He hears, and He will answer according to His wisdom and love.
I pray that the Lord will deepen your fellowship with Him as your Father, that you will know His provision day by day, His forgiveness and help to forgive, and His keeping from temptation. May your prayer life be worship at the beginning and worship at the end, and may you find joy in walking with Him through each new day He gives.
Jesus gave the prayer you quoted as a model for how to pray, not simply as words to repeat from memory. It shows the pattern that all prayer can follow. It begins with worship, recognizing who God is and honoring His name, and it ends in the same place, acknowledging that the kingdom and the power and the glory belong to Him. In between it covers the whole of our life with Him.
That first phrase, Our Father in heaven, speaks of relationship. We can only truly call Him Father when we have become His children through faith in Jesus Christ. That relationship is what makes prayer real and effective. If that relationship is not yet settled, the prayer God most desires to hear first is, God be merciful to me, a sinner, which opens the way to become His child and to know the full privilege of prayer.
The pattern Jesus gave also teaches us what prayer is for. Its purpose is not to get our own will done, but to see His will done on earth as it is in heaven. Prayer begins with God and His purposes, He puts those desires on our hearts, we bring them back to Him in prayer, and He then accomplishes them. So we pray, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, aligning our hearts with what He wants to do.
Then comes our daily dependence, Give us today our daily bread, a simple trust for what we need today. Then the need for forgiveness, and the call to extend that same forgiveness to others. Then the request for guidance and protection, that He would lead us away from temptation and deliver us from the evil one.
You do not need long or perfect words for God to hear you. The prayers recorded in Scripture are often very short. What matters is a sincere heart. The fervent, heartfelt prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Prayer is not a way to change God's mind, but a way for God to change things through us as we stay close to Him.
So continue in prayer and stay alert with thanksgiving, as Scripture encourages. Keep bringing your daily needs, your need for grace, and your desire to see His will done before Him. He hears, and He will answer according to His wisdom and love.
I pray that the Lord will deepen your fellowship with Him as your Father, that you will know His provision day by day, His forgiveness and help to forgive, and His keeping from temptation. May your prayer life be worship at the beginning and worship at the end, and may you find joy in walking with Him through each new day He gives.
