Prayer

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 9th of July, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go straight to the Gospel of Luke 11:2-4: “ So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.” We are talking this morning about the Lord’s Prayer because I can hear somebody saying, ”I don’t know how to pray.” Well, that’s exactly what the disciples said to Jesus, “Lord, teach us how to pray like John taught his disciples.” And the Lord says, ”and this is how you shall pray.” It’s not about the eloquence. It’s about the heart. I remember when Jill and I first got saved, yes, not far off fifty years now! We were counselled in a counselling room after we’d made our commitment and they said, ”Come back next Wednesday night and we’re going to start. We’re going to have a Bible study.” We all sat in a circle. I’ll never forget it. I was so nervous. The leader, I don’t even know who the man was, I can’t remember, said, ”We are going to start off by praying. How many of you know how to pray?” And of course, we went very quiet, all of us. There were about twelve of us there and he said, ”I’m going to start on this side and just pray. Now praying is speaking to Jesus, so speak to Jesus.” Well, I want to tell you, I was very nervous and I prayed a prayer, a simple prayer, but there was one man sitting in the circle, his name was John. You could see had been through fire of life and his prayer was, ”Oh God, please help me!” That’s all he prayed. I’ve never forgotten that prayer, from the heart, desperate, calling out to his newly found Saviour, Jesus Christ. Today, just speak to the Lord. That’s what prayer is. Tell Him your troubles, tell Him about your successes, tell Him about your ambitions, your visions, your future, and I want to tell you, it becomes a wonderful relationship. As I finish this message, I’m going to get on my bicycle and I’m going to go for a ride and I’m going to speak to Jesus, thank Him for His beautiful creation, the bush around us, the wild birds, the animals. That is what prayer is about and I know, when I come back from my ride, I will be like a new man. Do it today - in fact do it every day! Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.