My personality is one where I analyze things prior to doing them. It might take me a minute to act on something because I have the need to see as many angle as possible and be sure that I am thorough in my approach. With this personality, the idea of praying with structure appeals to me greatly.
“9Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread, 12and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’” – Matthew 6:9-13 (ESV)
As a good number know, this is known as “The Lord’s Prayer”. Jesus gives us this model of how to pray. Yes, He gives us a structure to follow as we pray so as to not miss anything of importance in our conversations with God. I have an outline to follow and that outline allows me to see things from many angles so that my prayer is thorough.
You see, I, as I am sure a good number of us, will wander in my prayer and/or only ask for things. Prayer is much more than that for sure. “The Lord’s Prayer” gives me the items that should highlight my time with God. My conversations with God should always include the structure given to us by Jesus.
Elements of prayer include, God’s glorification, acknowledgment of His will in our lives, thanks for the provision for our needs, repentance, and deliverance. These are the basics that we should be engaged with in our conversations with God. It is not all that we can talk to Him about, they are just the basics. Everything else falls into the requests, wants, and desires.
God will allow me to have beyond the basics. It is not that He does not want for me to have them, it is just He knows how those things will impact my relationship with Him. It is okay for me to add those items into my prayer, but they are just that, add-ins. I should be starting with the structure and the basics and then with time left over, my other requests are added.
Prayer is the conversation between me and God. That conversation is to grow closer in our relationship and allow God to work in my life to fulfill my purpose for Him. Having structure to the conversation makes sure that I am staying on task and cover the things that are important in the eyes of God and that, frankly, should be important in my eyes as well.
What does your prayer and prayer time look like? Are you just winging it each and every time you talk with God? What if you were to add the structure of “The Lord’s Prayer” to make sure that you cover all of the important items?
Trevor's Thoughts 