We want all our words, and the meditations of our heart, to be acceptable to God. Perhaps nowhere is that more so than when it comes to the words we speak directly to God, the words we use in prayer. Jesus’ teaching about prayer makes it plain that he did not intend the Lord’s Prayer to be a magic formula recited by rote. Instead, it was a model to guide us into personal, trusting prayer, done not to impress but simply to communicate with God.

• As you think about the Lord’s Prayer as a model, set your typical prayers beside it and consider which elements of the Lord’s Prayer you often pray. Are there any of the aspects of the Lord’s Prayer that are almost always missing from your other prayers? What ways can you see in which using Jesus’ prayer as a model could deepen and enrich your prayer life?
• Jesus’ depiction of people who think their prayers will be heard because they “pour out a flood of empty words” might recall the bizarre, tragic scene of the prophets of Baal “praying” on Mount Carmel (cf. 1 Kings 18:26-29). They saw their god(s) as inattentive, impassive, and needing to be “won over.” How have you learned to trust that God wants to hear you, and you don’t need to impress God by eloquence or lengthy rhetoric?