How to Pray - Personalize the Lord's Prayer
However, the bible does give us an outline on how and what to pray for. You know it. It is called the Lord’s Prayer. You can find it in Matthew Chapter 6. Most of us know the Lord’s Prayer by heart. But it is important to notice what Jesus said at the start, before giving us the words. He said:
"When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered only by repeating the words again and again.” Matthew 6:7
When Jesus gave the ‘Lord’s Prayer’, he was just telling us what we need to pray for and not necessarily to pray it. What we should do is pray the prayer in our own words. Let’s take a closer look.
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your Name
First we must address Him as Father, whether it be “Heavenly Father”, “Sovereign Father”, “Dear Father”, “Dear Father God”, “My one and Only Father” - you get the picture. Then we honor and praise Him – “May your Name be Honored”, “Praise be Your Name”, etc.
Thy Kingdom Come
Next we pray for His Kingdom to come soon. When we see all the suffering in the world as well as injustices taking place, we need to pray for God’s Kingdom to come soon to put an end to it all. If we look at Matthew 6:33 it says that we must seek God’s Kingdom first before our own needs. In our prayer we are asking God to help us to do this.
Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven
This line suggests we pray for obedience. The bible says we are natural enemies of God.
“For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will”. Romans 8:7
To be obedient is not easy. We need to pray daily about giving in to God’s will.
Give us This day our Daily Bread
Now is your chance to ask for things. Whatever problems you are having, whatever your needs, make them known to Him. Be specific, but keep in mind Matthew 6:33 – seek His Kingdom first and all your needs will be taken care of.
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
Another translation renders this: “Forgive us our sins just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us”. We must ask forgiveness for our sins, and just as God forgives us, we must forgive those who have wronged us in any way. Once we hold grudges and prejudices against others, it eats us up inside. We cannot be at peace and our lives will be miserable. Also we cannot expect God to be forgiving if we don’t know how to forgive ourselves.
And Lead us not into temptation
Now we need to clarify this line. God does not lead us into any temptation and the scriptures confirm this. (See James 1:13). The New Living Translation renders this verse:
“And don’t let us yield to temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
As humans we all have weaknesses, and the devil will use any opportunity he can get to make us sin. We have to be on our guard all the time and that is why when we pray, we need to ask God to help us overcome our weaknesses and protect us from the craftiness of the devil.
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever, Amen
We end our prayer the same way we began, praising God and praying for his everlasting Kingdom to come. This is what effective and heartfelt prayer is about. Just reciting words with no sincerity does not mean anything to God. You need to be specific and genuine. If there is a particular situation that needs attention, then by all means focus your prayer on that. If everything is fine and you are completely happy then give God thanks. Personalize the Lord’s Prayer and remember what the scriptures say in James 5:16:
“The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results”.
