9 “This, then, is how you should pray:”

Look at each verse from this prayer, and examine what each section has to tell us about how to pray, and then spend some moments praying through each section. This can be a great time for you to really connect with God and to listen for Him, and for you to learn some things about how to make the best use of your prayer time.

Find a place to pray, quiet your hearts and minds and prepare for prayer.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name”

In this section, we identify ourselves with “our Father in heaven” as his children, his creation, his sons and daughters. We recognize his leadership in our lives, his transcendence and his presence in our lives as we call Him “Father”. We also seek to praise him and give him glory as our Lord, and God of the universe. He is a great God, who is deserving of our highest praise, and we, his people were created to worship him. As we pray, we begin to understand our role in creation as brothers and sisters in Christ, who lived, died, and rose again to restore our right relationship with our Father. We realize that the same Father who loved Christ, and who gave His only son for us has adopted us through Christ as children He loves and values and in whom he finds beauty and joy. It is because of this amazing act of grace and love that we give glory to God today.

10 “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

As we pray “your kingdom come”, we pray not that God would impose his all-powerful will upon the world, but that we desire to become His instruments of change in the world. We seek to become messengers and servants of His kingdom, that we might usher in His kingdom in the world. This prayer is a sacrificing of ourselves, an acknowledgement of the supremacy of God’s rule and God’s will in our own lives. We lay down our own desires, our own will, to conform more and more to God’s plan and God’s vision for our lives. We wish to see our world changed, and this is a prayer, offering ourselves as servants of God to create a better world as we cooperate with His purposes for the world and for our lives.

11 “Give us today our daily bread.”

This is a prayer for provision. In a world full of have’s and have nots, in a country where excess is the norm, and consumption is a way of life, we necessarily remind ourselves that God is the giver of all good things. All things belong to Him and all that we need is provided by Him. He knows our needs before we even speak them. We ask Him to provide for all our needs: physical needs, spiritual needs, and relational needs. We are reminded of those whose needs go unmet, and we ask that God would provide for them, and that we would be blessed to be able to give to others and be the hands and feet of God in taking care of those in need. We also thank God for having provided for us and continuing to do so. We acknowledge the blessing in our own lives, and thank God for giving to us so freely.

12 “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

As we pray “forgive us our debts”, we are faced with the depth of our own sin: sin that separates us from God and causes pain, shame, loneliness, and a multitude of problems and difficulties in our lives. We confess our sin and ask forgiveness for the words spoken thoughtlessly, the actions done selfishly, the careless and the defiant. We ask for God’s grace and a restoration of a right relationship with Him, understanding that we have hurt God deeply, and that we don’t deserve His love, but that He loves us in spite of ourselves and will forgive our debts if we will only ask. We must also commit to repentance and understand that the long lasting consequences of sin in our lives remain, and that the only way to long term restoration is to turn from our sin and accept God’s will and purposes for our lives daily.

We also pray for those who have sinned against us: those who have hurt us, those who have isolated us. We ask not only that God would forgive them, but also that God would help us to do the same. It is only as we release others from their debts that our own lives can be made right and made whole.

13 “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

When we pray “lead us not into temptation”, we pray not to a God who seeks to make us stumble, but to a God who desires to keep us from evil. This is a prayer for protection, for safety, and for deliverance. We pray that God would keep us from situations in which we might struggle, and that he would lead us into places and connect us with people who will provide a positive and encouraging environment for our spiritual growth. We pray for protection from spiritual attacks and temptation, and particularly for accountability. We understand that in order for our relationship with God to blossom and grow, we must allow others to hold us accountable and encourage us in our pursuit of His will. God is a relational God, and we, made in His image, are relational people. We need others. So our prayer is that God would give us the resources and the relationships to live the way he designed us to live, because we acknowledge we cannot live life to its fullest in a broken world, without God’s grace and without the help of others.

These are things you can pray every time you pray.

Remember, prayer is much more about God speaking to you than you speaking to God. Take time to listen.

I was watching Survivorman re-runs the other day. This particular episode was the last one he was filming. I am not a regular watcher of the show, but I always enjoy catching a few minutes of it from time to time. Surviving out in the wild is not really something that appeals much to me, but it sure makes for entertaining tv.

At the end of each show, Les Stroud wraps things up with an inspiring monologue. Usually he talks about the challenges that he face in each episodes particular location. At the end of his last show, this is what he said:

“In the adventure known as life:

For the end of one adventure only signifies the beginning of another.” 

Where do you find yourself?

One of my favorite comedy routines is from Brian Regan when he talks about going to the eye doctor. One of the quotes that he uses to lead into this bit is, “How can instantly improved vision not be at the top of your to do list?”I went to the eye doctor the other day because I found myself straining to read and see while driving. I already had a pair of glasses, but the lenses were all scratched and they were bent into a weird shape so I never really wore them. The eye doctor asked me when I wear my glasses and I replied, “Not very often.” To that she asked with a shocked voice inflection, “You don’t wear glasses when you drive?” I answered sheepishly, “No.” She responded, “You should definitely wear your glasses when you drive.”

To make a long story short, I broke down and got a new pair of glasses. Instantly after I put them on, I was actually able to see clearly. Everything that was fuzzy became clear. My eyes were no longer straining to make out words. Everything was sharp. I could see.

In my personal life, I have been spending a lot of time and energy thinking, reading about and practicing different forms of spiritual formation. One of the biggest components of SF is prayer. In all honesty, I have always struggled with making myself stop everything else and pray because of a wrong idea about prayer. I am also not really one to ask for help so it was really difficult for me to sit down and go over my requests with God. For obvious reasons, this really bothered me. As a follower of Christ and especially as a pastor, we need to develop a prayer life, which I would consider a struggle in my life up to this point.

Recently, on a mission to figure out what prayer really is to correct this problem, I discovered that prayer is about being reminded who God is. Most of the time, when we pray, we are asking God to act. Maybe we are in a financial strain, maybe someone is sick, maybe we simply wish life would be different than it currently is so we ask God to give us something to change our situation. But the more I study and practice prayer the more I realize that prayer is not about gaining possessions, it about gaining perspective.

When I got new glasses, I gained a new perspective. All of the sudden, everything became clear. Yet nothing changed. The print in my books didn’t get larger, the letters on the road signs didn’t grow as I passed by, it all simply became more clear. That is what prayer does for us. It reminds us that God is in control; it gives us a new perspective. Prayer is more than a list of things we ask for. It’s reading scripture, journaling, and being silent before God. It’s giving thanks, and being open to God’s will for our lives. All of these prayer practices, remind us who God is. They help us to see that God is working all around us, and that if we are open to him, he is going to work things out for our good and his glory. Prayer helps us to know that even in the toughest of circumstances.

So, if you are at all like I was, frustrated with a lack of prayer in your life, try to mix things up. Try reading some scripture from the Psalms that talks about how big God is. Try sitting down and giving God thanks for all of the things he has provided you with. Try journaling about an issue that you are facing in your life. Get together with a friend or mentor and let them help you see things in a different light. When prayer is stripped down to a wish list for God, we lose the most important attribute in our relationship with God… the perspective that he is. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t ask God to meet our needs. We are instructed in scripture to do that. I am simply saying that in order to sustain a life of prayer, we need to first be reminded who God is so that we know he can and will meet or greatest needs.

Its easy to fall into the trap of thinking I know what’s best for me, and asking God to make that happen. I have come to the point in my life where I realize that I have no idea what’s best for me and furthermore, I don’t want to burdened with that responsibility. God is in control of my life, and my greatest need is not for him to respond to my wish list, rather it is to give me an improved, fresh vision of who he is.

In the words of Brian Regan, “How can instantly improved vision not be at the top of your to do list?”

What up MyLifeSM???  I decided to post a sweet track for y’all!  For reals!  It’s a brand new version of an older classic: Let It Rise (Robot Style)

Feel free to listen, download, and distribute.

In a world that is full of gadgets and gizmos that help us stay in touch, we have become a fragmented society. Very rarely do you ever have a conversation with someone without being interrupted by the outside world. I love how we are able to stay in touch with one another. Because of technology, almost anyone is available to you at the touch of a button. We can be constantly connected to each other, which is really cool, but also with famous athletes, movie stars, authors, and politicians. It is awesome that we are able to communicate with people we will probably never be fortunate enough to meet in person. It is equally as awesome that friends are always available.

Even though communication technology is extremely captivating, it definitely has huge negative consequences. We are never fully present anymore. I am amazed that we think it is okay to tweet or check our facebook while we are supposedly engaging in relationship with the people we are around. Its like we are saying to the people we are with, “You are important enough for my full attention until someone else comes knocking on my virtual door.” I know we don’t mean that, and we certainly don’t say that, but we cannot be fully present in two places (ie. in physical conversation and virtual communication) at the same time.

A few days ago, I was hanging out with my wife and checking my twitter account. She said something to me and I completely ignored her. My thinking was that I would finish checking what my fellow tweeters had to say and then I would re-engage in conversation with her. Don’t tell her I actually thought that:). Later on, as I was reflecting on my day, I realized that the tweets of friends that I could read at any time, were more important than giving my wife my undivided attention at that moment. To be honest, this realization really frightened me. I was overwhelmingly bothered by the fact that what was on the screen of my phone was more important than listening to my wife.

So in light of this, I have made a commitment. I am going to do my best to ignore my cell phone in meetings or conversations. I am going to try to do only one thing at a time. I am going to offer my undivided attention to whatever task is before me.

I know that this isn’t going to be easy and that at times I am going to fail. Just last night I was talking to some teens and I got a text on my phone and I read it. The other day I allowed my phone to interrupt a meeting. I am sure that some distraction will sidetrack me today and most-likely tomorrow as well. But now that I am aware of this struggle, I am going to do my best to overcome it. I at least owe that much to myself, my friends and family, and to my God.

So here’s to you social networking devices. You are being downgraded to the trunk. Relationships and the tasks at hand will be the only things in the car with me. I promise to check in with you from time to time to make sure everything is okay, but never again at the cost of being fully present.