My daily commute consists of driving to and from work on Central Expressway, Hwy 75. It’s your standard highway, with all of your usual suspects commuting with you- the speeder, the weaver that weaves in and out of all the lanes, the turtle in the fast lane, the turtle in the slow lane and everyone in between. One afternoon on my way home, I noticed a car coming up from behind me and passing me on my right side. I was in the middle lane and the car got in front of me. He then tried to get into the next lane over, but there was already a car there, so he swerved back into my lane. He let the car pass and then managed to successfully get over. He then tried to merge into the next lane over, which is an HOV lane that is separated from the rest of the lanes by tall, plastic (flexible) sticks. There was already a car in that lane, so he (again) swerved back into his lane. I watched all of this happen in front of me and prayed out loud in my car “Lord, please let me get away from him safely. This is not good.” I moved one lane over, sped up, and passed him. As I checked my rear view mirror to make sure he was behind me, I heard a crash and saw him spin out and then spin across all 5 lanes of traffic. Unfortunately, he had tried to merge into the HOV lane again, hit a car and spun out.
I was stunned. I was shocked by what I saw play out in my rear view mirror, and I was equally shocked that my prayer worked. Very rarely- if ever- have I ever had a prayer answered so quickly and so obviously.
I often struggle with my prayer life. The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. It also tells us to ask, seek, and knock. But there are times that I can’t even start praying. I don’t know what to say other than recite my laundry list of complaints.
In January of this year, our church started a series called “One: First Things First”. In the second part of the series, Pastor Amie spoke on prayer, and she broke down the Lord’s prayer into a structure that I have now implemented in my prayer life.
Matthew 6:9-13 NKJV
9 In this manner, therefore, pray:
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 this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
[a]For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
- Honor- hallowed by Your name
- Surrender- Your kingdom come
- Purpose- Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
- Petition- Give us this day our daily bread
- Forgiveness- Forgive us and help us forgive
- Protection- Deliver us from the evil one
- Glory- Yours is the kingdom, power and glory forever.
Your prayer doesn’t have to be this specific or this structured. My prayer that day was quick and to the point. But, when you know that you need to say more but don’t know how to do it, this is helpful. The link to the entire service is below. This particular portion of the sermon starts at about the 1:04:00 mark (an hour and four minutes into the service), but the entire message is powerful. ~Shiney
