A perfect how-to prayer would be helpful to those of us who like to study and copy a good example, right? Well... Jesus doesn't say, "this is what you should pray," but rather, "this is how you should pray." Instead of reciting His whole model prayer as we often do, we can use it as an outline of a perfect how-to prayer.

This is a very generic model prayer, and if we sincerely mean every line and phrase from the heart, I'm sure it doesn't harm us to use it. But have you noticed that once we have it memorized and recite it, we tend to have momentary absences as we go over some of the lines? We end up chanting it like the Eastern religions that repeat their mantras over and over.

Sometimes I do pray through this how-to prayer very slowly, trying to be all present and meaning each word or phrase, but a lot of times it works better for me to use it as an outline. To that end, it is good to study and understand what each part is really saying to God. Then I end up praying the same thing in my own words.

1). address our Father in Heaven. Tell Him how holy He is - that is, worship God.

2). Ask, or agree that His reign be extended, and that His will be done on earth just as in Heaven (including in our own life).

3). Ask God for our daily needs (don't take them for granted; here's where we make our requests).

4). Ask to be forgiven - with the clear implication that we are also forgiving those who have wronged us.

5). Ask to be kept from trouble (temptation) and to be rescued from Satan, the evil one.

Jesus adds an important condition after His perfect how-to prayer; if we don't forgive others when they sin against us, the Heavenly Father will not forgive us either. This is a powerfully convicting passage, and many of us stumble at it when we think we simply cannot forgive someone. Still, if we keep even a small root of bitterness in our heart for some wrong done to us, it really will keep us from a healthy relationship with our Father.