Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Praying the Lord's Prayer

My first prayer of the day is always the Lord's Prayer. Its 6 petitions are amazing reminders of 6 basic characteristics of prayer:

1. Come into his presence praising him.

2. Come with a spirit of yieldedness to his will.

3. Come asking him to meet your needs that day.

4. Come confessing your sins including any spirit of unforgiveness.

5. Come pleading for the power to overcome temptation. (For me, this usually means praying, "Lord, when there's the opportunity to sin, please remove the inclination, and when there's the inclination to sin, please remove the opportunity.") 

6. Come asking for protection from Satan.

R. A. Torrey once said, "Prayer is God's appointed means of growing in mercy and grace in a time of need." How foolish of us to start anything, including the day, without him!