Hope Lutheran Church in Warren, Michigan

I have often heard people say that they don't know how to pray, or that they don't know what to pray for.  Now, I know that praying is to be as natural as a child talking to their father, but it can be intimidating for some.  Somehow a certain amount of legalism has crept into prayer teaching.  Some believe and teach that praying has a special formula that needs to be followed, if one wants to pray correctly.  There are even those who would say that if you get the prayer formula down right, then God will hear you better.

Such thinking is not just nonsense, it is dangerous.  Any prayer a child of God offer to the Father in Jesus' name is received into God's presence.   Any prayer offered in such faith is heard and answered by God.

While there are no secret formulas to prayer, Jesus did give us some direction when His Disciples asked Him how to pray.  He gave them (and us) the Lord's Prayer.

The Lord's Prayer is both a prayer to be recited by His followers, and a model prayer to teach and guide in our prayers.  Yesterday, the Lutheran Hour Lenten Devotion offered a great idea for using the Lord's Prayer.  It suggested that we use one of the 7 parts of the Lord's Prayer as our prayer theme for each day of the week.  

Take a look:

+Sunday - that we keep our great God's Name holy

+Monday - that we give thanks for the Kingdom, & pray for its coming

+Tuesday - that we faithfully do God's will as it is done in heaven

+Wednesday - that we recognize and give thanks for life's bounty

+Thursday - that we forgive as we are forgiven

+Friday - that we be tempted to no sin, great or small

+Saturday - that nothing separate us from God

Why not consider using the Lord's Prayer as a weekly prayer guide?  Then we can pray with confidence knowing that we are praying the prayer our Savior Himself gave us, and that our Father in heaven both hears and and answers us! 

(NOTICE:  The Biblical Creationism Seminar will be this Sunday from 2-5pm, not on Saturday.  Pardon the typo last Sunday.)

 Don't forget there's Homework:

+If you have not been very good at praying, then pray the Lord's Prayer all week long. 

+Pick one person and pray for them all week long too.

For your prayers today:

+Lift up our Haiti Mission Team as they leave tomorrow morning to serve our brothers and sisters in Haiti.

+Pray fo rthe nation of Chile as they seek for some stability following the devastating earthquake and tsunamis.

Jesus is our Hope!

+ Pastor John +