Pray Like This

ByJim Stephens

Scripture:  Matthew 6:9-15 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

9 Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 10 May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today the food we need, 12 and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. 13 And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. 14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:9–15 NLT)

Here’s what I see Jesus saying to us here: Pray like this. Pray simple, honest, unpretentious prayers. Start your prayer by getting your perspective right.

Good Father, you’re in heaven and we’re here on earth. I know one of the reasons we’re here is to work with you to bring the ways, the values, the blessings, of heaven to earth. May I learn to put you and your Kingdom first, instead of always getting bogged down in the details of life in the fast lane (or the slow lane sometimes). And may I represent you well in the way I live and the way I deal with other people.

Thanks, Father, for caring about my needs! I trust you to provide what I need when I need it. In my moments of clarity, I hope you’ll provide what you know I need and that you won’t provide everything I want! I can get so caught up with my stuff sometimes, and it’s not always good for my soul!

Please steer me clear of temptations and distractions and entanglements and entitlements. Those things so often keep me tied down to stuff that’s temporary and keep me from focusing on what really matters! I want to get right with you, Father, and I want to stay right with you. But it’s clear that if I don’t get right with the other people in my life, I’m not going to be right with you! I depend so much on your patient, gracious, merciful forgiveness that I’ve just got to forgive others more quickly, more graciously, and more completely. That one, I really need help with!

This is me, Father, down here on earth, signing off. In Jesus’ Name!

Prayer:

Friends, as I got to this point, it seemed like it would be good instead of writing another prayer for us to pray, that we simply go back and pray the previous three paragraphs. Can we do that together? Starting with “Good Father…”