Prayer

Prayer. It’s a big topic and a word we use often. A few evenings ago I was reading to Caleb at bedtime from the Jesus Storybook Bible and the pages we read were titled “How to Pray.”

Isn’t the “how” what most struggle with?

How do I start? How do I know God is listening? How do I talk to someone I cannot see? How do I express what I am really feeling? How do I learn the right words to say?

Those are all questions we have thought ourselves or heard other people mention. Turns out – even in Bible times, people did not have it all together concerning prayer. The Pharisees were a group of people that considered themselves “extra-holy people.” They would stand in the middle of the street and pray out loud using “extra-holy voices” and they used special, clever words that a lot of people really did not understand. The people walking by would hear the Pharisees and notice their clever words. This made the Pharisees feel even more special. They wanted people to think God favored them because they were so holy.

The Pharisees were communicating to the people that prayer had to be “showy” and full of big fancy words. This was not what prayer needed to be then, and it is not what we should make prayer today.

Since people were getting confused about prayer, Jesus taught people how to pray. We can read about this in Matthew 6. He explained to them that God doesn’t listen because you repeat clever words and put on a show. He taught that God listens because He loves you. The “Lord’s Prayer” is found in Matthew 6. Jesus used it as a model prayer to help teach the people how to pray. I don’t think He meant for it to be merely recited and used as the only prayer people ever speak, but just as a sort of outline to go by. The “Lord’s Prayer” I memorized as a child and recited in church many times was the scripture from Matthew 6:9-13 in the KJV. It includes a lot of phrases and words that we do not use in our everyday language today. I feel that some can get hung up on the terminology used in that model prayer. I found a paraphrased version of this prayer in Caleb’s Storybook Bible. I appreciated the simplicity. Here is how they worded the prayer to make it more understandable for children (and me):

Hello, Daddy!

We want to know you.

And be close to you.

Please show us how.

Make everything in the world right again.

And in our hearts, too.

Do what is best – just like you do in heaven.

And please do it down here, too.

Please give us everything we need today.

Forgive us for doing wrong, for hurting you.

Forgive us as we forgive other people when they hurt us.

Rescue us! We need you!

We don’t want to keep running away and hiding from you.

Keep us safe from our enemies.

You’re strong, God.

You can do whatever you want.

You are in charge.

Now and forever and for always!

We think you’re great!

Amen.

- from The Jesus Storybook Bible by Zonderkidz

So, when you pray – just talk. No need for us to try to impress God with fancy words and phrases – no one can “impress” God anyway. He knows us – the real us, so just be real. Thank Him, praise Him, repent of your sin, ask Him for what you need, and have faith that He is in charge. That pretty much sums it up.

Kristen

Teen Leader