Today’s passage is Matthew 6:9-18.
Jesus gives the Lord’s Prayer as an example of how we should pray. Then he says not to make a show of fasting but to do it quietly and God will see and reward us.
I don’t pray enough.
I don’t pray enough because I tend to be stuck in the thought that there needs to be a time and a place for prayer.
Church and mokjang are the main places.
Everyone else is praying then, so it’s clearly a right time and place to do it.
The prayers tend to be long, though, much longer than the Lord’s Prayer.
And that’s okay because there’s not a lot of babbling going on.
They’re serious prayers.
But I realized recently that I’ve been lazy about praying because I’ve been leaning on longish prayers taking place during certain times and places in the week.
Today’s passage helped me focus on my prayer failure.
The length of the Lord’s Prayer and the time it takes to say it surprised me.
The version in today’s passage is only 52 words long.
It takes less than a minute to say. Less than a minute.
That was the key that freed me.
How often do I say something to someone in less than a minute?
Lots and lots of times every day.
Most of my phone calls are in that range.
So why can’t I praise God and ask him for something in less than a minute many times a day?
Since there is no reason why not, I started doing it.
My wife had made an appointment to see a woman thinking about divorce.
I stopped her at the door and prayed for her and the woman, asking God to give what he knew was necessary in their conversation.
God was honored and my wife was strengthened as she left.
All in less than a minute, just like the Lord’s Prayer.
I pray, O Lord, that you remind me to pray more often each day at those moments when it’s your will I should pray with few words for your purpose and your glory.
