“‘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...."

 

 

The Anatomy of a prayer to God:

 

1. Invocation - honoring the Lord and His Kingdom expressing your appreciation for Him and who He is in your heart.

 

2. Petitions - next are your petitions  and the reason for the prayer and to express your gratitude for His answer

 

3. Doxology - praise to God and your official thanks for the answer to your prayer

 

 

 

Prayer should be:

 

Sincere- from the heart

Secret- personal time with the Lord

Simple- not complicated or ritualistic

Serenity- peaceful and full of faith

 

 

Sincere - prayer comes from the heart and not from the mind. The mind interprets what you are feeling from your heart. You can tell the state of a person's character and personality from what they believe from their heart. If you pray just with your mind or from an intellectual exercise, your prayer is not sincere and the Lord will not hear it or respond to it. The Lord has nothing to prove to the world, however we as human beings must demonstrate that we are willing to believe in Him and that we are willing to follow Him and His Word.

 

Secret - we must take time to pray in His presence alone. Corporate public prayer is good and necessary, but our private time with Him is essential if we are to develop spiritually. Quiet times with the Lord strengthens our faith and our resolve to live for Him and to never give up or give in regardless of our circumstances.

 

Simple - We are talking to the Lord, not lecturing to Him. We don't need big words or ritualistic phrases to get Him to listen to us. We don't have to repeat the same words over and over again. We just need to be honest and open our hearts to Him. He already knows what we need. He is waiting for us to come to Him and to tell Him our petitions while we believe in our hearts that He is listening to us and that He is willing to answer our prayers. He can do anything, so when we ask for anything, we must know that He will give us what we need according to His will.

 

Serenity - When we pray, let us pray with faith in our hearts. We can ask Him to help us to see Him as He truly is, the one who loves us and who is willing to answer our prayers. When we are suffering and filled with deep emotion, we can come in His presence and pour out all our pain, and He will bring comfort, peace and joy into our hearts. 

 

There is no one like Jesus, there is no one like our Lord. He reaches from heaven to pour out His love into our hearts. He is waiting to hear from you so that He can be close to you and to give you everything that you need to survive and thrive in this world, so let me encourage you to pray, because if you do not pray, you will never know Who He is until you receive the answer to your prayers!