Prayer is not my spiritual gift. I am not good at prayer. I have the basics down. I am comfortable with my own conversational prayers with God. Nothing fancy. Just talking to God. But I realized that my prayers may be selfish. I don't think I pray for selfish things but the focus is typically on me and my family - our trials and problems. Our praises and prayers of thanksgivings. I have never been good at praying for others. That is something I would like to work on and to be more sincere in my prayers. To listen to the Holy Spirit more. There have been times when I have prayed for random people that popped in my head. That is the Holy Spirit.
One prayer that I love is the Lord's Prayer. It speaks for my heart. I remember hearing when I was younger that people pray the Lord's Prayer out of habit and do not think about what they are saying. Maybe that is okay. There are times when the repetition is comforting and there are times in our lives when that is enough and that is all we can do. I think about every word when I pray the Lord's Prayer. It is full of wisdom. It says so much in so few words. Maybe that is why I love it so much. Lately, the parts that I have focused on is "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Can you imagine if we all followed God's will here on earth, now? What would that earth be like? I love "give us this day our daily bread..." It always reminds me of the story of the little birds. If God takes care of them and they don't worry, why should we worry. "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us". As I recite those words I always think that it is so easy to forgive others. No one sins against me as much as I sin. I need forgiveness. I can forgive others. It is much harder to forgive myself. I am so humbled that God can forgive me. "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil." Those are not little words. It's not to protect us from the bad. It's evil we are saking to be taken away from. Not just protected but taken away from! That is huge!!! "Lead us not into temptation." Temptation is everywhere all the time. I am so humbled that God is there for me.
I have written before about how important it is for me to teach my children about prayer. We are all learning together. Prayer is not my spiritual gift. I am so thankful that Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer and the words to pray when we do not have our own.
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