Ralphine Hood: "God has been urging me to write about prayer. That should be easy for me since I am such a strong believer in prayer. Our Lord's prayer was taught to the Disciples and to us." Matthew 6:9-13 Our Father in heaven Hallowed be Your name Your kingdom come Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors And do not lead us into Temptation, But deliver us from the evil one For Yours is the kingdom and the Power and the glory forever Amen. I think because Jesus taught the Disciples and us this prayer, we should take it seriously. Do we pay attention to the words when we pray this prayer on Sunday mornings, or do we take it for granted as we often do with our prayer time? Prayer is a gift our Lord has given us. If we want to be like Jesus, we must use the gift he has given us. When we talk with Him each day, it is a gift like no other. Jesus prayed often, and he prayed about difficult decisions. The night before he chose his Disciples, he stayed up all night praying. Jesus usually prayed alone, but the night before he was arrested, he asked his Disciples to pray and watch with him as he needed them, but they could not stay awake. He even intercedes for us when we cannot find the words and helps us. He never sleeps when we ask for his help. When I pray, I believe he does answer my prayers. Sometimes he says no, sometimes he says to wait a while, and sometimes he says yes. When we feel our prayers are not being heard, we must remember that God is working behind the scenes and knows what we need and when we need it. It is best to trust God for his ordained outcome. That is when our faith comes. I believe it is right to long for the desired outcome with all our hearts. It is right to pray repeatedly and earnestly for a certain outcome. Take our burdens to the Lord. Let Him know your needs and trust Him for what is best. Jesus just wants to hear from us. He is our friend. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, Help us to trust you and use our prayer life as you taught the Disciples and us. Amen. This devotional and poem was written and read by Ralphine Hood. Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life. If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected]. First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

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