Teach Us To Pray
Prayer, the Perennial Problem
Prayer seems to be a perennial problem for me, and I don’t think I’m alone. I struggle to know what and how often to pray. I don’t always feel close to God when I pray.
But recently, I have found solace in the instructions of Jesus, when he taught his disciples to pray.¹ For the last few weeks in the mornings as I walk, I have been following along with the words of the prayer he taught. This prayer is not burdensome but light — that is, simple, even short and to-the-point.
It’s a relief knowing God isn’t weighing my words, waiting for to me carry bucket loads up the high mountain where he dwells in unapproachable light. No, he kneels down to listen to his children as we speak in the simple language of our hearts. He’s not waiting until we say “enough,” but rather waiting for us to consistently ask for help.
Unexpectedly, this prayer is even facilitating a sense of communion with God each morning. Each phrase leads me to clearly admit who God is and my need for him, and without any convoluted language, it becomes simple how he wants to meet me where I am. It’s funny how the higher I lift God in prayer and the lower I acknowledge my own state, the closer I experience us to be.
Below, I have added a short meditation in the form of an expanded prayer following each section of the prayer Jesus taught. The point is not to make the prayer longer but rather to enjoy the richness of meaning in each simple phrase.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
God, you dwell in a place we have not fully known — a place we long to be. You live in heaven, where no evil dwells, because you cannot dwell with evil.² Heaven is perfect because you are perfect.
Would your name be worshipped and set apart in our hearts as special — even holy. Create in us a sense of wonder at the beauty of who you are. In every place, would men and women be filled with a sense of love and respect for you.
Your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Your kingdom is the place where you are exalted as King. Would you be exalted and obeyed as king in my heart and in the hearts of all who have breath. Would your will — justice and mercy and righteousness — be done everywhere on earth, just as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread,
Please give us the food and the things we need to live. We do not ask for opulence but adequate food, shelter, and clothing. We trust you to provide what is best for us each day according to your providence. With these things, give us contentment — and joy.
…and forgive us our sins,
We admit that we have sinned against you. We have wronged you by mistreating the ones you love, the people whom you have given the honor of bearing your image, by treating them as sub-human — objects for our use. We have wronged you by treating you as less-than-God, worshipping small things and rejecting you.
Each day, we have done what ought not to be done, and we have left undone what ought to be done.
Please forgive us.
Thank you for your promise to forgive.
…as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.
Since you forgive so richly, we also forgive those who have sinned against us. Whatever the offense of our neighbor toward us, it is much smaller than our offense toward you.³ Please give us your eyes of compassion toward the wayward, and allow us to recognize our own selfishness, that we may forgive everyone fully, finally, and forever.
May we be as our Savior, who, even during the pain of crucifixion, looked at his abusers and said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
But Father, sin and encumbrances cling so closely, drawing us away from you. Sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is contrary to our deepest needs.⁴ We must choose a better way, but we need you to protect us from the grips of temptation.
Protect us from the intoxication of our own inordinate desires. If left to ourselves, we would grieve your spirit, wound others, and disfigure our souls.
Our sinfulness is beyond our ability to control. It is an enslaving force that chases us to the shore of ourselves. Deliver us, and show us a better way.
[1]: Matthew 6:5–13
[2]: Psalm 5:4
[3]: Matthew 18:21–35
[4]: Genesis 4:7
