This, then, is how you should pray:

"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.

Forgive us our debts,

as we have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one."

as you can see, i am officially making the transition from layperson to pastor overlord. quoting scripture and analysing it for all to see is official pastor business. or so i've heard. 

i have recently come to love this prayer. i don't really have much to say, as i'm sure most of you have heard it over-analysed a million times before and have your own favorite parts about it. but here are a few of mine that have recently struck me going over this prayer.

1. it is simple. how often do we pray prayers this simple? when i pray, whether in public or private, i feel the need to speak many works and explain the complexity of my life to God. when i pray in private, this stems from my own insecurity rather than necessity. i feel unworthy and therefore have to explain to God why He should listen. maybe most of you are beyond me in this area. i hope so. maybe instead of being like the pharisees and speaking many words and lengthy prayers in public so people think i am so spiritual, i should take a cue from Jesus. pray His prayer. after all, it shows an incredible lack of trust in God if we think He doesn't know what we need. keep it simple and take time to listen rather than speaking a million words a minute.

2. "Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."

when we pray this, what are we really praying? it's been easy for me to skip over this statement in the past and not really examine this. but this statement is really a request for God to make His Kingdom a reality in my life. it is not just a run of the mill request for God to do something in the world while we stand idly by. this is a request for God to mould me and shape me and make me a member of His Kingdom. this prayer is really saying that my deepest wish is that your kingdom will come, God, and I want what you want for this earth. so if i sit around and do nothing to further God's Kingdom, can i really pray this prayer? i don't think so. God's Kingdom is here and now. it is simply a matter of whether we choose to enter it and make a difference for God. if we are not in tune with God and His work in this world, then we have little hope of ever seeing His Kingdom although it is all around us.

3. "Give us today our daily bread."

sounds simple enough. but do we have enough faith to only pray for enough to get us through the day? we live in a culture that  says we should keep accumulating more and more until we have enough to last us the rest of our lives. even then it is usually not enough. the more you have the more you want. that is a simple truth i have found at work in my life. do i have enough faith to say to God, give me what i need for today, and tomorrow i will ask you again. not usually. although i should, as he has come through for me on more than one occasion. 

4. "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."

it's really easy to read the first part of that sentence and leave out the rest. every time i pray, i ask for God's forgiveness. that in itself is not a bad thing. we need God's forgiveness. but how often do we relate that request to how much we have forgiven others. i hold so many grudges i lose track of them. then one day months or years down the road, i remember the offense against me and get mad all over again. ps, it was my petition dave, you jerk. ha. do we really believe that our forgiveness is related to how much we forgive others. that kind of scares me. no, it really scares me. because i am not a forgiving person. i don't deserve God's grace, and not just because i am trying to sound humble. because i really don't deserve his forgiveness as i have not forgiven others. 

anyway. those things have grabbed my attention today. i'd love to hear if anyone heard something different than i did in this prayer. my goal is to make my prayers more like this one. i don't want to babble on and on anymore. i want my words to count.