07 31 07 Meaningful Words Make Meaningful Prayers


“So He said to them, ‘When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’.”
(Luke 11:2)

Jesus gave all of us a model prayer as He answered the disciples desires to be taught to pray. We can easily fall into the trap of reciting the same words prayer after prayer or modeling our prayers after someone we admire. Take a simple prayer over our food: do we say the same prayer we learned as a toddler (“God is grace…..”)? We are attempting to teach our kids to pray for the food, actually naming it by item, thanking him for who prepared the meal (mom, dad, brother, sister, or the restaurant staff), and also to remember to mention pertinent prayer requests. No, we don’t want (or really appreciate) a prayer so long that the food needs to be put in the microwave, but MEANINGFUL WORDS MAKE FOR MEANINGFUL PRAYERS!

I believe in teaching general prayers to children as a way of learning how to pray, but we all have to keep in mind that prayer is simply communicating with God. If we fall into the habit of reciting prayers, we forget the other part of communication; listening! As we open our heart to the Lord and those around us, we become a little vulnerable. We become somewhat humbled. We’re not telling God things but showing our appreciation, our dependency upon Him, and our need for His provision and protection. As we pray from our heart and for His will to be done, we are reminded that He is in control and His will is best for us. As we take time to then meditate upon our prayer, letting His words sink in, many times we are instantly lifted and encouraged, knowing we trust in a God that can do all things but fail!

MEANINGFUL WORDS MAKE MEANINGFUL PRAYERS, that makes meaningful relationships. Remember the courting years? There not very popular today! Kids meet, decide they like each other, call it love, and have a relationship. Nor real time, real effort, or real meaning. We used to take the time to write to our beloved, spend our last dime on a flower, or put our will aside for their needs. When is the last time we wrote out a prayer to our Savior, gave Him our last dollar instead of saving it for the Monday morning coffee, or really meant it when we said, “your will be done”?

Let’s recommit our time with the Lord to be meaningful once again. Let’s not allow our prayers to become routine or a cheap copy of someone else’s words. May our words be meaningful once again, our prayers reflect our heart feelings and emotions, and may our relationship with the Savior be the most meaningful relationship in our life! Amen?!?!