This is How We Should Pray

Jesus said to his disciples:
"In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

"This is how you are to pray:

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

"If you forgive men their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men,
neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."

Matt 6: 7-15

Jesus knew that man liked to believe he was 

in control and that he could manipulate God if he said the right words.  The pagans would spend hours babbling at their gods hoping that the sheer volume of words would convince Mars or Neptune or whatever god they were trying to influence with their hope being that they would impress the gods and they would get what they wanted. 

What does Jesus tell us?  He tell us, he says that we should cut down on the number of words we say, and pray in this fashion.  We begin by praising God, then we tell Him that we surrender our will to His and that His will should be done.  We ask for our daily bread, for our bodies and our souls and he tells us to ask God to forgive us in the same measure as we have forgiven others the wrongs that they have done to us. Jesus was quite aware of how things worked in this world.  A man would say something to another man who would take exception to what was said who would say something back and the incident would escalate until fisticuffs would erupt, and this was just his apostles, the rest of the world was even crazier!  What He tells us is that forgiveness should be our watchword and we should forgive others because God the Father, whose dignity we offend when we sin, has forgiven us what we have done to him.  

Me:  Lord, how can I forgive you didn't hear what she said to me! 

Jesus:  I heard the taunts of the crowd and the words of Pilate and I forgave. 

Me: But lord, what he did hurt so much. 

Jesus: I have the scars that the soldier left on my back as he whipped me.  I forgave. 

Me:  Lord, if I forgive, I will be the laughing stock of the neighborhood, people will consider me a fool. 

Jesus:  I wore a purple rag and a crown of thorns and the spittle of the soldiers and  I forgave. 

Me: My Jesus, I will have to carry this burdon throughout my whole life.   

Jesus:  I carried the cross, I fell, I was kicked, I was beaten, I rose up and continued my journey.  I forgave. 

Me:  But they hurt me so deeply, I just cannot tell you how it hurts.

Jesus: See my hands, feet, and side? The pain was horrible.  I forgave. 

Me: But Lord, I died of embarrassment. 

Jesus: As I died, I forgave. 

Me: Okay Lord, I will forgive those who have trespassed against me. 

Jesus: This day you shall be with Me in Paradise.