Can you remember the first time you talked to God? Stop now and try to recall how old you were and what you said. (Pause to remember.)
Maybe you were very young and a family member helped you fold you hands and thank God for your food. Maybe you were a bit older and memorized the “Our Father” in Sunday School or for your First Communion. Maybe you were older still and faced a scary situation that made you ask God for help.
In your memory of talking to God, try to remember what you thought about God as you prayed. Little kids can have some very strange ideas about who God is and what he looks like. Grown-ups can have some very strange ideas, too.
I think one of the reasons we don’t pray more is we have concocted ideas about God that are not very accurate. In the coming weeks I invite you to investigate with me what Jesus said about talking to God. I am convinced Jesus was sent by God and is God. Believing that, I absolutely want to know what he said about prayer.
We’ll start with a well known and oft-quoted passage from the writings of Matthew, one of Jesus’ disciples, The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6. Pause now to find this in your Bible or print it from Bible Gateway
Read through the passage once, and then reread a few times circling all the words or phrases that are repeated at least 3 times. Make a list of what you find.
I will meet you back here next week and we can compare what we find. I hope to hear from you very soon.
Hope Walking 