Pray Like This
Pray, then, in this way: Our Father in heaven, may your name be revered as holy. May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.
Matthew 6:9-13
Jesus gave this prayer as a pattern immediately after warning against empty phrases and piled-up words. It runs about thirty seconds at a speaking pace.
The order is the teaching: the Father's name, kingdom, and will come before our bread, forgiveness, and protection. It is a prayer that reorders the one praying, and Jesus later declared his Father's house a house of prayer, which is now what we are.
Pray it slowly today, one line at a time, pausing to make each line personal. Let it be the skeleton your own words grow on rather than a recitation.