Today's Devotional: The Upper Room Daily Devotion "Struggling to Pray" for Tuesday, 28 April 2015 - Scripture: Matthew 6:9 You, therefore, pray like this:
‘Our Father in heaven!
May your Name be kept holy.
10 May your Kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.
11 Give us the food we need today.
12 Forgive us what we have done wrong,
as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.
13 And do not lead us into hard testing,
but keep us safe from the Evil One.
[a]For kingship, power and glory are yours forever.
Amen.’
14 For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will not forgive yours.[Footnotes:
Matthew 6:13 The latter half of verse 13 is not found in the oldest manuscripts.]
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.[Matthew 6:12 (NIV)]
I could not understand how someone I trusted could have committed such a horrible offense against me. That person had broken my trust so much that it seemed that everything I believed about the relationship was wrong. I was devastated and angry. Alone in my room, I tried to pray. “Dear God,” I began, but I couldn’t finish. The only thing I could do in my anguish was cry and moan.
I spoke with my sister-in-law, someone who has also been a spiritual sister to me, about my inability to pray. She suggested that I try praying the Lord’s Prayer until I was able to put what was on my heart into words.
Even though it was difficult to do, I recited the prayer. When I got to “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us,” I couldn’t continue. I suddenly realized that I had done this very same thing to someone else years before. I wondered if that person had been as distraught as I had been in the past few days.
Too often I overlook the Lord’s Prayer as something I say without really thinking about it. This experience helped me understand how important this prayer is, how important it is for me to forgive others, and how much I need God’s forgiveness.
The Author: Sarah Negroni (Louisiana, USA)
Thought for the Day: We need to forgive as much as we need to be forgiven.
Prayer: Dear God, help us to remember the forgiveness you have shown us. Give us strength to offer that forgiveness to others as we pray, “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation” (Luke 11:2-4, NIV). Amen.
Prayer focus: Those Struggling To Forgive
‘Our Father in heaven!
May your Name be kept holy.
10 May your Kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.
11 Give us the food we need today.
12 Forgive us what we have done wrong,
as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.
13 And do not lead us into hard testing,
but keep us safe from the Evil One.
[a]For kingship, power and glory are yours forever.
Amen.’
14 For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will not forgive yours.[Footnotes:
Matthew 6:13 The latter half of verse 13 is not found in the oldest manuscripts.]
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.[Matthew 6:12 (NIV)]
I could not understand how someone I trusted could have committed such a horrible offense against me. That person had broken my trust so much that it seemed that everything I believed about the relationship was wrong. I was devastated and angry. Alone in my room, I tried to pray. “Dear God,” I began, but I couldn’t finish. The only thing I could do in my anguish was cry and moan.
I spoke with my sister-in-law, someone who has also been a spiritual sister to me, about my inability to pray. She suggested that I try praying the Lord’s Prayer until I was able to put what was on my heart into words.
Even though it was difficult to do, I recited the prayer. When I got to “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us,” I couldn’t continue. I suddenly realized that I had done this very same thing to someone else years before. I wondered if that person had been as distraught as I had been in the past few days.
Too often I overlook the Lord’s Prayer as something I say without really thinking about it. This experience helped me understand how important this prayer is, how important it is for me to forgive others, and how much I need God’s forgiveness.
The Author: Sarah Negroni (Louisiana, USA)
Thought for the Day: We need to forgive as much as we need to be forgiven.
Prayer: Dear God, help us to remember the forgiveness you have shown us. Give us strength to offer that forgiveness to others as we pray, “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation” (Luke 11:2-4, NIV). Amen.
Prayer focus: Those Struggling To Forgive
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