Lord, Teach Us to Pray (3)

What to Pray When I Don’t Know What to Pray?

A not uncommon response to why people don’t pray often is :

I don’t know what to pray for.

How many English words does the average American know?

The vocabulary of the average American (39 years old) stands at around 29,851 words.

At age 3, children can recognize around 3,082 words.

By the time they enter elementary school, children possess around 7,573 words in their vocabulary.

At middle school age, at 10 years old, children can recognize around 12,411 words.

When entering high school at 14 of age, students possess more than 18,051 words in their vocabulary, 45.44% compared to the first year of middle school.

By the time they’re 18 years old, the average person knows over 22,046 words,

After the age of 20, vocabulary growth begins to normalize, increasing between 5% and 7% every 5 years until the age of 40.

The average person knows the most words around the age of 59 when the vocabulary consists of 31,955 words.

After the age of 45, the increase of words in a person’s vocabulary is marginal, hovering around 0.5% until the age of 65.

People usually start forgetting words after the age of 65, and by the age of 70 the amount of words a person recognizes drops down to 30,134.

https://wordsrated.com/how-many-words-does-the-average-person-know/

Looking in some detail at the pattern which Jesus shared with His disciples can give us help for when we get stuck, for those times we may not have the vocabulary we need.

Matthew 6:9–13 HCSB

“Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. 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 into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]

Jesus intended this prayer to be a pattern, a way to organize our personal prayers.

OUR FATHER...

The very first word is “Our Father.” One might assume that since Jesus is the Son of God He calls God Father.

However, the concept of God as ‘father’ is not unique to Jesus in his relationships.

Though Jews in the OT era did not address God as ‘Father’ often, there is ample evidence that the Jews recognized God as Father as One who is fully committed to His people’s well-being.

For example, Deuteronomy 14:1

Deuteronomy 14:1 (HCSB)

“You are sons of the Lord your God; …

Isaiah, Hosea and Malachi also remind Israel of their child/parent relationship between themselves and God.

‘Our Father”

These words link us not just with God as Father, but with others. Every time we say ‘Our Father’ we are reminded that we are part of a family, something much bigger than ourselves.

Our Father in heaven…

There is something profound about looking toward the sky when we pray. How far can you see?

On a clear day you can about three miles - if there are no obstacles like trees, hills, buildings, humans, and just about anything else!

If you look to the sky you can see less than .50% of the earth’s atmosphere - in other words; NOT MUCH!

Yet as we address our prayer we are speaking to God - who has revealed Himself in His words and deeds as a Father.

Our Father is in the heavenly places - far beyond what any human can see, beyond even how far the James Webb Telescope which is orbiting the earth.