40(ish) Days of Discipline - Day 5

Praying.

It is both a simple action and a complex task. It can be done in a moment or it can be performed ceaselessly for the remainder of one's life. Both intuitive and learned, praying is something that we are called by God to do. 

When Jesus first chose his disciples, they had no idea how to pray. That is why we have the traditional Lord's Prayer aka the "Our Father." For those who don't know it yet, or struggle to recall it, here it is. 

     Our Father, who art in Heaven,
     hallowed be Thy Name.
     Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done,
     on Earth, as it is in Heaven.
     Give us this day our daily bread,
     and forgive us our trespasses,
     as we forgive those who trespass against us.
     And lead us not into temptation,
     but deliver us from evil.
     For thine is the kingdom, and the power, 

     and the glory, forever.

     Amen.

This is how Jesus taught His disciples to pray. It is also how many of us learned as children to pray. Unfortunately, because many of us learned it by rote, we never learned the significance of the words that we were speaking. There are other prayers that we also learned in this manner which have become relegated to things that we recite with more thought on which words come next than what the meanings behind them are. 

Looking at the Lord's Prayer, it can be broken down pretty easily. The first two lines are direct address and honoring God. The second two lines are an invitation to let His will be known. Line five is asking not only for physical nourishment but also for God to spiritually feed us. The sixth and seventh lines are asking God to forgive us in equal measure to that which we have forgiven others who have harmed us. The next two lines are asking for God's guidance and protection. Lines ten and eleven are giving acknowledgement to God that all we are given is still His. Wrapping up with amen gives your prayer a distinct ending, but it also means "so be it." Using this concluding statement, you are saying that whatever God's response is, you will accept it even if it is not the one for which you had hoped. 

There are other types of prayers, but in the interest of getting some sleep so that I am able to be prepared to go to work in the morning I am stopping here for tonight. In the next few days, I hope to continue the visit into this chapter, as well as to begin reading another book on prayer by the same author, Richard J. Foster. I've got a few books that I've requested on interlibrary loan to go along with the rereading of Celebration of Discipline.