Been sitting in the swing today pondering on prayer. I think we pray to build an intimate relationship with God. God commands we pray as an act of obedience and service. Faithful prayer prepares our hearts to listen to God’s guidance. When we pray we are reminded that God is in control of our lives and we must humbly depend on God for our needs. I pray for peace and strength as I lay my worries in God’s hands and trust him to bring me peace and comfort, to relieve the everyday stress of just living. We have to have faith in our prayers. Philippians 4:6 states, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Prayer is just a conversation with God. Meister Elkhart wrote, “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” Giving God genuine thanks for our blessings can serve as a spiritual connection to God. We need to appreciate our lives, focusing on what we have instead of listing requests. God knows our needs and hears our requests.

The Lord’s Prayer, found in Matthew 6:9-13, was a given to the disciples from Jesus to show us how to pray. The prayer is first on a list of most beautiful prayers. A simple prayer that completely addresses our needs. The prayer reads. “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” The prayer addresses God as a loving father, asking us to honor his holy name. In the prayer we ask for our sustenance and trust God to provide. We ask for forgiveness for us and for others and ask God to protect us from temptation. I think most of us have memorized this prayer.

The second beautiful prayer on the list is The Prayer of St. Francis, sometimes called the Peace Prayer. The prayer reads, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, To be understood as to understand, To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.” A lovely prayer that needs to be prayed for us and our country — “where there is hatred, let me sow love.” This prayer focuses on us becoming peacemakers through forgiveness and hope, working for peace, not passively waiting for peace.

The Serenity Prayer, third on the prayer list, written by Reinhold Niebuhr, is known for its first stanza often used in 12-step recovery programs. The prayer reads — “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.” I love this prayer and never realized there was more to this prayer than the first sentence. Such wonderful advice for all of us reminding us to live life one day at a time, seeking God’s calm and wisdom, accepting life challenges and being grateful for the moments that make life special.

It is often hard to accept the things we cannot change but our prayers to God will bring us peace.

“God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world, the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil.” —E.M. Bounds