How should Prayer begin?
If you are like me, prayer usually begins with a rush to ask God to remember someone who needs help, or that I need help, or that I just feel the need to apologize for not doing my best for Him. But is this the way Jesus told us to pray?

During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us in what we now call “The Lord’s Prayer.” Jesus said, “This is how you should pray.” (Matt 6: 9-13)

One way to study the lessons of the prayer is to separate it arbitrarily into 9* parts:

1. Our Father
2. Who art in Heaven
3. Hallowed be Thy Name
4. Thy Kingdom come
5. Thy Will be done
6. Give us our daily bread
7. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others
8. Lead us not into temptation
9. Deliver us from evil.

The entire first half of the prayer (5 of its 9 parts) is all about connecting to God and remembering our relationship with Him. Jesus taught that prayer should start with this “connection.”

1. The word “Father” begins the prayer. This sets the tone for the remainder of our conversation with God. Jesus reminded us that we are God’s children; that He loves us; that He will always care for us; that He will always do for us what — in His infinite wisdom — is best for us (as difficult as this can often be to understand.). Saying “Father” establishes a feeling of trust, of closeness, of placing ourselves in His hands. It is also a very human way of saying, “We love You for all you have given us. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
   
2. “Who art in Heaven.” Jesus told us to remember that God is present, even though we cannot see Him. He is very real. He is listening.
   
3. “Hallowed be . . .” (In English, the word “Hallowed” dates from before the 12th century and implies “sacred,” and “revered.”) For a moment we need to think about the incredible universe God created, and that — as tiny as we are — He actually knows and loves us individually! The overwhelming sense of awe this fact brings, almost defines the word “reverence.” Jesus was saying, “Approach God with a sense of awe.”
   
4. “Thy Kingdom come . . .” This is a statement of our trust in God that, at some time, He will make everything right as it should be.
   
5. “Thy Will be done . . .” We promise to fully accept God’s loving and ultimate judgment on all matters for which we are praying.

(* - As an aside there is, of course a tenth part: “For Thine is. . .” The version originally written by the author of the Gospel of Matthew apparently did not contain this phrase. It may have been added later, perhaps from a comment that someone had written beside the text in an early manuscript. In practice, sometimes copyists picked up comments like this and added them to the body of the text. Whether it is included or not depends upon the biblical version. It is found in the King James Version. It is not in the New English Bible, and others.)