Teach Us to Pray

“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This is how you are to pray.’”  (Matthew 6:7-9)

Jesus gives us the Our Father as a gift to us. This seemingly simple prayer that we pray often and is one of the first prayers that we learn as a child is so rich with wisdom and is all that we need to know. The pagans babble on and on, thinking that their many words are going to give them an edge over the rest of the people. It reminds me of people who talk just to talk and their words have no depth. They can’t stand silence.

Jesus wants us to know his Father, our Father, in the same intimate way that he knows him. Jesus prays that our Father will keep us in his name so that we may be one just as he and the Father are one. (John 17:11) In order to do this we must place our existence into the Father’s hand. If we desire that His will be done then we must place our trust in him and believe that no matter what trials we face, it is all for his glory and that he is bestowing grace upon us even when we can’t feel his presence. When we pray for the Father to give us this day, and this day only, our daily bread we have to let go of our anxiety for the future and receive the gift of this day because each day is truly a gift. And for me the hardest part of this prayer is, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Is this really what I want to pray for? I have a hard time forgiving those who have hurt me. God casts our sins as far as the east is from the west and I need to learn to do the same thing. I need to cast off the sins of others and not let them continue to press in on me or be wrapped around me; I have grown comfortable with them. I keep them as a reminder of why I shouldn’t forgive that person. “Look what they did to me!” I don’t want to hear those same words from our Father because the wrong I have done to Him far exceeds any hurts that have been done to me.

Heavenly Father, forgive me for my many sins and give me a heart of love so that I may forgive others as you have forgiven me; with no strings attached, no reminders of past hurts and no limits. Amen.