We all need to learn how to have a joyful dialogue with our Creator. Some call it prayer or communication. How does the words communion, dialogue, prayer sound to you? The word communion involves speaking and listening.There are various ways of having that communion with your Creator and we will explore some of them. In a fast paced society such as we live now, how do we find time for that communion, you ask? We are created to desire that dialogue or communication with our God. We just have to find ways to do it. Some people see prayer as a time only for confession. This is just one aspect of prayer and a healthy one too. Jesus gave
Jesus gave us patterns of prayer. For this post, I want to explore the Lord’s prayer and see our we can relate to it. This prayer can be found in Matthew 6:9-13 and other references in other gospels.
Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'” This prayer is always recited word for word.
I want us to see that this is also a pattern we can adopt daily for prayer by looking at it in segments:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name: here we are acknowledging and invoking the greatness of our Creator. We are praising him and we could extend that by mentioning some of His attributes as read in the Bible. You can add your own attributes as you wish.
Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven: we are to pray for His involvement in all our daily dealings and the affairs of this world. He has given free will and because of this does not force His will on us. It is left to us to ask and we shall receive.
Does God speak to his creation? I believe he does and he does this in variety of ways.
Give us this day our daily bread: ask Him daily to provide. This reminds me of the manna provision in the book of Exodus. I don’t think this means we sit around and just ask for provisions but even in our daily dealings, we can ask for the Creator of the Universe to be involved. We acknowledge that we don’t know it all but we need the help of the All knowing and omnipresent One. I have read about the AA classes. This is one of the 12 steps to recovery:’ Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him’, A pure act of surrender that you can not help yourself.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive the trespasses of others: our daily walk requires that we are continually prepared to forgive. We will always be offended. Simply put, forgive as you expect to be forgiven when you fall or make mistakes. forgiveness is a big industry these days, yet many do not understand it. It frees us and therefore more beneficial to us than the offender. Sometimes it feels like the other person is freely getting away with a lot but that is not true. The other person is storing up negatives vibes for themselves which can be very unhealthy in the long run. Offences will always come but decide that you will be anyone’s garbage can.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil: Temptations abound daily and as I mentioned above we need the help of a higher power (our Creator) to overcome. The good news is He has already overcome. we just need a reminder of these truths and a proclamation of same regularly. Speaking His word out is the key to freedom here. It may also require the speaking of blessings from the Word over our lives regularly. We succumb to temptations sometimes we want what’s not necessarily good for us but looks enticing for the moment.
To end it, we give to give thanks, acknowledging that all we asked for has been heard and we will receive accordingly. Entertain no doubt. Doubt steals our results from prayer or communion with our Creator. I hope this short article will inspire you to develop the habit of daily communing with your Creator, he loves to hear from His creation.
I am not someone who goes to church but I do have a powerful relationship with my Father in Heaven. We communicate in the mornings and evenings and whenever we can during the day.
Thank you for your thoughts on the first part of The Lords Prayer. It has such powerful words !
Hi Roy
That’s nice to hear. As long as you do it, it doesn’t have to in church. This is the joy of being a believer, relationship with Him is regardless of structure or building.
If you love God you should love the church – Christ gave His life for the church.
“Christ loved the church and gave his life for it.” (Eph. 5:25).
True Roy.
Thanks for stopping by.
Thank you for this post. It is good to be reminded of the importance of daily prayer. Earlier today I was remembering my great grandmother and the extended time she spent in prayer everyday. I was thinking that compared to her pray life, mine is minuscule and I was striving to emulate her, but couldn’t quite figure out how she did it.
I think that she prayed individually for all of her children, grandchildren and great grand-children. It is something admirable and shows how much she cared for us and how strong her belief was.
I will improve my prayer life by honoring God in my prayers and praying individually for the people in my life.
Do you think the length of time spent praying is important?
I’m happy to hear about your grandmother. I believe God did hear her prayers.
I don’t think the length of time matters. What matters is that we do it and regularly. Start with whatever time you can afford. As you continue to enjoy it, you will want to spend more time.
Thanks for taking time to comment.
Kav
Matendi
I don’t think so.
Kav
Although I’m not a religious person, I feel like I do believe in a higher power, whatever that may be I’m not quite sure right now. It does make sense to talk to your holy spirit and pray, ask forgiveness, and give love to them.
I’m curious how you came to believe in a Creator. Is it something that developed over time or did you always know he was there? I feel like the more you believe, the more you are surrounded with love and comfort.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and insights. It is very enlightening!
My believe in a Creator grew gradually but in my mid twenties I got restless and just felt there was more to life than I’m experiencing. I look around me and I see the handiwork of someone greater than me. We don’t have to attend religious services to know that our Creator God exists. Nature talks about Him although we are not called to worship nature or any created things. I definitely will not call this a religion. It is a relationship.
Thank you for stopping by, I look forward to reading your other comments.
Thanks for this detailed run through of the Lord’s prayer, I agree we all connect to God in different ways.
When people ask me what prayer is I just say “talking to God”. I love to talk to God in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nature.
I also love worshipping Him through dance/electronic music, for others it may be classical or Hillsongs but that’s what gets me going.
Thanks for sharing that.
We do all connect with God in many ways and can communicate with him anywhere we choose. I heard a a man say he loves washing up because that is one of the moments he gets to talk to God.
I am trying to developing the art of worshipping through music alone and not just with crowds of people.
Thanks, I look forward to reading your other comments.