TEACH US TO PRAY
The disciples approached Jesus one day with an important request. They said to the Lord, “Teach us to pray.” Jesus gave to them what has become known as the Lord's prayer. Churches and Christian believers the world over recite this prayer, both privately and congregationally. Jesus did not mean for this prayer to be something they memorized and repeated every time that they spoke to God, though. He meant for it to be a model, a pattern, from which they could shape their own prayers, expanding on it, and making it personal and an expression of themselves. Studying the various elements of the Lord's prayer, and understanding the intent behind them, can breathe new life into our own prayers and make them much more focused in the will of God. Our Father. . . Of all the ways that we can address Almighty God, "Father" is the one that I believe pleases Him the most. We might address Him as "Creator of the universe," "Judge of all the earth," or just