When I was little, my mother taught me how to pray. She told me to start by giving thanks, asking for forgiveness of sins and then asking for any other thing I needed in the name of Jesus Christ. I remember falling in love with praying since then. I use to read Christian books when I was about nine years and I didn’t really understand what I was reading since they were adult books but there was this seed that my mother had already planted in me that made me thirst for the word of God. During our family prayers, she used to randomly ask one of us to pray aloud and I remember when she said to me “you know how to pray really well”. Needless to say that I was happy to hear this from my mother, and now that I am much older, I thank God every day of my life for giving me a mother that saw beyond her human nature and made sure to plant the purest seed in me.
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one. Matthew 6: 9-13
In this verse, Jesus was teaching His disciples and the crowds how to pray. I believe that praying is the ultimate proof of the faith we have in God because we pray to a God we don’t see hoping that He will answer our prayers. When praying, the first step should be to invite the presence of God through thanksgiving. We do this by worshipping, giving thanks to God as my mother taught me, exalting Him, and honoring His name as He said..” Hallowed be thy name”.
Let’s focus on the part of the prayer where it says “Your will be done”. This is a very important part yet difficult for many of us. We often pray to God asking Him to grant the desires of our hearts but sometimes we don’t really want to wait for His will. We are often in a hurry trying to make our own path while God knows already what’s best for us.
Matthew 6: 8 says that our Father knows what we need before we ask Him. I didn’t know that I needed God when I was little, but my mother knew it because she knew better what I needed than myself. Maybe I did not realize it back then but what she put in me saved my life. The word within me brought me back to Jesus when I was isolated, without a godly friend around me or even being part of any church. This seed made me pray again during my darkest days because deep down I knew that there is a God who answers prayers. God’s word in me allowed me to cry out to God and be in His presence when I needed it most.
Isaiah 49:15-16 says that even though a mother can forget a baby, God cannot forgive her. God has engraved you on the palms of His hands, His thoughts about you are more than the sand. He loves you and knows what’s best for you even when you don’t know how to pray or what to pray for. His timing is perfect as well as His will on your life.
Prayer: Father God, thank you for teaching me how to pray. Thank you for being close to me even when I don’t feel your presence. Thank you for your unconditional love. I want to always be thirsty for your word. I want to be in your presence all the days of my life. I want to pray, wait for your answer, and trust Your timing. May your will be done in my life because I believe that You know what I need more than I do. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray, Amen.
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