In Luke 11, Jesus’ disciples asked him how to pray. Jesus’ reply is what we now call the Lord’s Prayer. It is recorded in both Luke 11 and Matthew 6.

In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus says, “Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us what we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.”

We can never go wrong praying the Lord’s prayer. We obviously can pray in other ways, as well.

I learned a memory device that I sometimes us to help me structure my prayers. It is an acronym ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) which we can use like this;

Dear Lord, we are in awe of your power to create all that we know, and the love you have for us. We are sorry that we cannot meet the standard of perfection that you created for us and we routinely do wrong to ourselves and each other. Thank you for your forgiveness and the peace of knowing that Jesus’ sacrifice has made us perfect. Give us the things we need to live our lives and bring glory to you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.