We finally come to the part of prayer that we seem to be good at: supplication or asking. It is no accident that supplication is the final aspect of our model prayer. It is last in order to keep prayer in its proper perspective.

 As a child, one of the things my mom taught me from a very young age was to always say “thank you” when I received something. For the most part, I still follow that habit of thankfulness in my relationships with others. However, I must confess that there is one area of my life where I do not express thankfulness as readily: my spiritual life

  I have to make a confession: I hate admitting I am wrong. I would much rather be right than wrong. But there are times (rare as they are) that I have done something or said something wrong. That is when I need to confess to the person I have wronged that I have made a mistake, and I ask their forgiveness. It is a very humbling and sometimes scary prospect to go to someone you have wronged and confess what you have done

 I think as leaders we would all agree that prayer is an important part of a leader’s spiritual life. While I have heard many sermons on the power of prayer and the importance of prayer, I have heard very few sermons on how to pray. Is it as simple as the child’s prayers, “Now I lay me down to sleep” or “God is great, God is good; let us thank Him for our food. By His hands we all are fed, give us Lord our daily bread. Amen”? Or does it have to be something more complex? How does one pray?

 We finally come to the part of prayer that we seem to be good at: supplication or asking. It is no accident that supplication is the final aspect of our model prayer. It is last in order to keep prayer in its proper perspective.

 As a child, one of the things my mom taught me from a very young age was to always say “thank you” when I received something. For the most part, I still follow that habit of thankfulness in my relationships with others. However, I must confess that there is one area of my life where I do not express thankfulness as readily: my spiritual life

  I have to make a confession: I hate admitting I am wrong. I would much rather be right than wrong. But there are times (rare as they are) that I have done something or said something wrong. That is when I need to confess to the person I have wronged that I have made a mistake, and I ask their forgiveness. It is a very humbling and sometimes scary prospect to go to someone you have wronged and confess what you have done

 I think as leaders we would all agree that prayer is an important part of a leader’s spiritual life. While I have heard many sermons on the power of prayer and the importance of prayer, I have heard very few sermons on how to pray. Is it as simple as the child’s prayers, “Now I lay me down to sleep” or “God is great, God is good; let us thank Him for our food. By His hands we all are fed, give us Lord our daily bread. Amen”? Or does it have to be something more complex? How does one pray?