Today, Thursday October 15 - In Matthew 6:9-13 and in Luke 11:2-4 Jesus gives us the pattern for prayer. On several occasions over the years when I've asked someone to pray, they responded, "I really don't know how to pray." Even the disciples who were with Jesus must have felt the same way after they experienced and heard the Lord praying. So for a few days we will be looking at the lesson the Lord gives us on prayer. This prayer is famously known as the "Lord's Prayer." Actually, the Lord's Prayer is found in John 17. This prayer here is the pattern Jesus gives us, so that we might pray in a way that is effective in bringing God's kingdom down to earth. In one translation, Jesus said, "After this manner, pray....". And that was in contrast to the way the heathen prayed, and said prayers that were empty and meaningless repetition of words or phrases that were coming from the head and not from the heart. My friend, please join me in the Lord's school of prayer so that we learn to pray in wonderful and effective ways. Remember James 5:16 "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." God bless!
