Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

How to pray #2.

Matthew 6v9 “This is how you should pray.”  (NIV)

Have you had a time when you just don’t know how to pray? I am sure you have. Sometimes it can be because we are in shock over an event, or maybe we are not sure whether we should be asking for one outcome or another.

Though the gospel writers record Jesus saying, “This is how you should pray,” we do not find his followers praying this exact prayer again in the New Testament. Instead, we find a wide variety of prayers covering a range of styles and themes. It would seem that Jesus was primarily giving a principle of prayer than an exact wording to follow.

Jesus begins his example prayer with “Our Father in heaven” – a wonderful statement of our relationship with God. We come to him in relationship. Jesus is telling us to come as loved, dependent and submissive children and honour our Dad.

He continues “Hallowed be your name” – a declaration of the complete holiness of God. We come to one who is perfect in every way; one who is to be revered and praised. Indeed, now is the time to worship!

Maybe, when we do not know how to pray, we need to begin with an expression of our relationship with God and his worth. It is then that the Spirit comes and enables us to pour out our hearts to God as Paul writes in Romans 8v29, “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

With love and blessing,

Roland