So when you pray, don’t babble on like the religious folk who don’t know the true God. They think that the louder they yell and the more they repeat themselves, the more likely they are to be heard by somebody “up there.” Don’t imitate their misguided example, thinking that verbosity and eloquence usher you into the throne room of God. Before you even open your mouth, your Father in heaven knows exactly what you need.
With these things in mind, pray like this:
Powerful Father,
Let your character be known throughout the earth.
Help us to bring your way of life to the world around us, and use us to accomplish your purposes.
Give us whatever we need to follow you today, whether that’s patience or courage or a hot meal.
Forgive us for forgetting that everything we have is yours, so that anything “owed” to us is really owed to you. But you have canceled all debts! Help us to live in that knowledge.
Protect us from paths that entangle and constrict; rescue us from the things that separate us from you.
If you are able to forgive others when they have hurt you, then you know that you have received God’s forgiveness. If you can’t bring yourself to let go of anger and bitterness, you don’t really understand how much God, whom you have betrayed every day of your life, has chosen to forget in your case.