Day 6: Framework

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!”
Matthew 6:7-8 (NLT)

When we find our minds unfocused during prayer, we may fill this time with empty platitudes and church cliches that don’t really mean anything to us, or to God. We feel like we’ve wasted both our time and God’s, and we miss out on the life-giving intimacy that we crave with Him.

The Lord’s Prayer is often recited mechanically & monotonously by Christians, yet Jesus intended this prayer to serve as a framework for how to commune with God. It helps to guide our wandering minds, and helps us to relate to God in the ways that He wants to relate to us.

Today, pray the Lord’s Prayer. Pray it more than once through, thinking about the words you are saying. Try focusing on one line at a time. Let them settle into your heart and mind.

Why would Jesus instruct us to pray like this?

These words of Jesus contain the divine power and spiritual depth we so desperately crave from God.

“This, then, is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
 Give us today 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 the evil one.
for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’”
Matthew 6:9-13 (NIV)