Who better to learn prayer from than the Master himself. Jesus is giving us a model to follow. Did you recognize the prayer? In the tradition I grew up in, we prayed that every Sunday. The Lord’s Prayer was something we memorized as a young child. In Confirmation classes, we unpacked the meaning for a deeper understanding of what we had been saying over and over.
It’s easy to get lazy when we say something over and over. It’s almost like being on autopilot. We need to be careful to not just go through the motions but truly be present in the moment saying the words as if we were saying them for the first time. Jesus also cautioned us not to be like hypocrites, drawing attention to ourselves when we pray.
We’ve probably all seen some evangelist going on and on in prayer. The attention-getting can be a little off-putting. If I’m bothered, imagine what God is thinking. Similar to our passage yesterday, God looks at the heart and our intention when we pray. We need to be sincere. We need to approach our time of prayer with reverence. When we remember who we are praying to, the creator of the universe, the savior of the world, we can start to get a little giddy about the honor it is to have a conversation with Him.
What about the secrecy part? When we’re gathered at church there is prayer going on. That’s not so very secret. When we get together for meetings, there is prayer going on there, too. I’m guessing Jesus wants to make sure we shut out all distractions that might keep us from focusing on God. What better way to do that than escape into a private room by ourselves. We are then in a place speaking only to God and not worrying about our impressing others with our piety.
What else does Jesus say? Don’t babble. Your prayers don’t need to be elaborate. Simplicity is key. God knows what we need before we even ask, so we don’t need to go on and on. It is our privilege to come before our Father with our requests, with our thanksgiving, with our confessions. Our prayer life is for us. It is our way of building our relationship with God stronger and stronger. That is his desire for us, too.
As I mentioned before, it is quite something that Jesus has given us a model prayer to use. Those Jews hearing Jesus’ words would probably already be praying the daily prayers they were used to. This new prayer was a way God gave us to be involved in His plans for us. If Jesus is telling us to pray this way, I am going to pay attention.
Reread the prayer Jesus taught us to pray (vv. 9-13).
We honor God for who he is and ask for him to transform our world, particularly asking him for his return. We seek God’s will as we should, and pray for our daily needs. It’s nice to see those included. It’s like Jesus is giving us the okay to ask for stuff, but only what we need. We need to seek forgiveness for our wrongs, and Jesus enlarges this to include us forgiving others for sinning against us. That can be a hard thing to do. We are asking for God’s strength to avoid temptation and be strong when tested. That definitely needs to be a daily prayer.
How is your prayer life? Could it be better? Do you feel like you have drifted away from God a bit? Use this prayer to get you back on track.
Let’s pray. (Lord’s Prayer from The Message paraphrase.) Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what’s best—as above, so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge! You can do anything you want! You’re ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
