Learning to Pray

A thought came to me this morning as I was praying through the "Lord's Prayer". Maybe the whole point of that prayer is to align my thoughts, actions and objects with those words (and thus, the workings of God).

Our Father - He is my dad; close and intimate
Who dwells in heaven - He is huge and over all and in all
Hallowed be Thy name - not my name
Your kingdom come - not mine
Your will be done - not mine
On earth as it is in heaven - in my life today, in my actions
Give us this day our daily bread - I trust you to give me what I need, Lord
Forgive my sins as I forgive those who sin against me - (see later comments)
Lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory - not the fame or power or politics of this world; they are all counterfeit

So then the next phrase that Jesus utters, "for if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly father will forgive you...but if you do not, he will not". (This is kind of a bothersome phrase!!) What if instead, we can see it more as Peterson translates it.

"In prayer there is a connection between what god does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part."

And so here is where I was going with the whole alignment thing. If we pray something but are not trying to make our words real by the way we live, they will be meaningless and lead nowhere, "because they will be like a bow that we cannot shoot for lack of string. It is absolutely pointless to ask God for something which we ourselves are not prepared to do. If we say 'O God, make me free from this or that temptation' while at the same time seeking every possible way of falling to just such a tempation, hoping now that God is in control, that He will get us out of it, then we do not stand much chance. God gives us strength but we must use it. When, in our prayers, we ask God to give us strength to do something in His name, we are not asking Him to do it instead of us because we are too feeble to be willing to do it for ourselves." (Anthony Bloom)

What do you think?