Have you ever felt that when you pray you are more focused on what you are praying than on God? Maybe you focus on praying for the right things...or on the right words...more than the one who made you? Sometimes we can forget where our focus should be; but when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, He was more focused on the confidence and certainty we can have when we approach God in prayer. Check it out:
“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. “ Matthew 6:7-8
It is only after He makes that point that Jesus goes on to give an example on how to pray. That's because He wasn’t trying to teach us the right words. He was trying to teach us how to pray. He wanted the disciples to pray in that confidence and certainty, and He was ultimately directing their focus. Where is your focus when you pray?
[Jesus] said to them, "When you pray, say:
"Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation."
Luke 11:2-4
I like the way songwriter and theologian Michael Card describes this. He wrote, “After all the emphasis on prayer in the Gospel of Luke, we are anxious, like the disciples, to simply hear Jesus pray. So they ask, "Lord, teach us to pray." And we are glad that they asked. Jesus offers a prayer (the shorter form of what we call the Lord's Prayer), stunningly brief and simple yet bottomless in its implications. It can be spoken in a single breath. A child as well as a Ph.D. can learn to pray by means of this prayer.”
Let’s pray with the confidence and certainty that comes in knowing our Heavenly Father knows what we need. He's the focus...not right words.
Keep pressing on.
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