Jesus taught His friends a simple prayer. This part of it is one I come back to again and again when I don’t know how to pray. I will repeat, ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done,’ trusting in God who is just.
I love the version of what we call the Lord’s prayer in The Message. Eugene Peterson’s version gives fresh breath to words that could become rote because they are so well known. This short section comes from a longer prayer but the few verses ahead of it are important too, Matthew 6:7-10:
“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:
Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best -
as above, so below.”
I appreciate the reminder that prayer is about a relationship with God who loves us, not learning a formula or practicing a program or any tips or tricks or other such nonsense. He’s a good Father and that is good news and when we don’t know what or how to pray these few lines might just help us out.
And so we pray: ‘Set the world right; Do what’s best - as above, so below. Amen.’