The Lord's Prayer

As I’ve been thinking about prayer this week, I’ve been reminded that usually when I need to pray about things I return to the Lord’s Prayer.

At times I’ve tried long-winded prayers where I lay everything out, and at times this has been good, such as when I’m baring my sins and my shortcomings.

It’s not so much that God needs to hear them from my lips, but more that I need to say them out loud so I know what I have done and the things I need to work on in my life.

I’ve also used music and hymns as my prayers before, but found that it’s hard to always remember words wherever I am and haven’t always been able to get to music to listen to it.

But I always seem to come back to the Lord’s Prayer, because I’ve found it to be the most complete expression of everything I need to say in a prayer.

It starts off with praise and thanksgiving and then forgiveness, while only asking for what we need according to his plan and will, which has always seemed like the proper approach to prayer to me.