A friendly reminder to pray like Jesus
I promise you it's easier than it looks
I remember constantly thinking, “There is no way anyone can ever have a prayer life even remotely close to Jesus,” in my younger years.
And then I remember in Luke 11 reading that someone asked Jesus how to pray and he says, “Pray like this…”
Our Father in Heaven,
May your name be kept holy
May your Kingdom come soon
May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Give us today the food we need
And forgive us our sins
As we have forgiven those who sin against us
Don’t let us give in to temptation
But rescue us from evil
And I remember at about 12 years old going, “That’s it? That’s all we have to pray?”
And, well, yeah…that’s kind of it.
That’s why I am so fascinated by The Lord’s Prayer. Jesus hands it to the disciples and says, “This is it. This is everything.”
It’s important to note that, in Luke’s version, the disciple asks Jesus to teach them to pray like John taught his disciples.
And John’s disciples were known for those prophetic, intense, paradigm-shifting prayers.
And Jesus gives them 9 lines of prayers to recite.
They were expecting (much like I suspect we are expecting) a laundry list of do’s and don’t’s and instead we got 9 things to remember to pray about.
At its core…prayer really is this simple.
Jesus wasn’t wrong. Jesus kept it simple because prayer isn’t meant to be intimidating or stressful or grandstanding-y.
Prayer, the way Jesus prays, is simple.
So, let’s start praying like Jesus and keep it simple.
My prayer for today
Our Father, thank you for the example of Jesus to keep prayer simple-yet-effective. Jesus, help us learn how to have a thriving prayer life like you offered to teach us. Spirit, remind me that prayer should be simple and clear. Amen.
Remember
If prayer is intimidating, then it probably isn’t because of any teaching you’ve been given, scripture you’ve read, or lesson learned by the Spirit…food for thought…