Thoughts for the Day

Jesus said, 'Pray then in this way:

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 do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.'

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Prayer is the way that we have direct communication with God. At its simplest it is like being able to use a mobile phone to text or speak to someone, in this case, to God. We can speak to God at anytime, using ordinary language, in the same way that we would speak to a family member or loved one, and we should have this confidence because of our belief that His Son, Jesus, died for us to reconcile us to His Father.

In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray to God. The Lord's Prayer is a pattern of what we should include in our prayers. It starts with an emphasis on God:

• Our Father: expresses our close relationship to God, through Jesus.
• hallowed be Your name: may God's name be glorified.
• may Your kingdom come: may God's kingdom of love be made complete.
• may Your will be done: may God's will be carried out everywhere.

Then the prayer turns to us:

• give us this day our daily bread: may we have enough food to keep us alive.
• forgive us us our debts: and forgive us our sins, and those committed against us.
• do not bring us to the time of trial: do not allow evil to tempt us.

Heavenly Father,
we praise You for Your glorious majesty,
and for Your Son Jesus Christ
who taught us how to pray.
We thank You for Your gifts to us,
and ask Your help this day.
May we never forget to pray for others,
and put that help into action for them.
Amen.