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“Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.”

Matthew 6:9-13(NLT)

Last week, the devotional was about why to pray. This devotional goes over the five elements of prayer found in the Lord’s Prayer. Not all prayers require these elements, but all should be included in our prayer life. If you need motivation to have a prayer life, read the previous devotional.

5 Elements to Include in Our Prayer Life

1. Praise:
   • “Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. (Mathew 6:9)”
     • When we pray, we should tell God how great He is. Look around yourself. God is so so good. You can see Him in the trees, in the birds and all his creatures. Recognize God in every circumstance—even the hard ones. Our goal should be for everyone to know God’s awesomeness.
2. Submission:
   • “May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)”
     • When we pray, we need to yield to God’s will for our lives. Prayer is not the same as rubbing a Genie’s lamp to get what we wish for. Sometimes—often times—our will and God’s will don’t line up. Jesus successfully submitted in his darkest hour when he begged the Father to remove the cup. In the end, he said, “Yet I want your will to be done, not mine. (Matthew 26:39)”
3. Petition:
   • “Give us today the food we need… (Matthew 6:11)”
     • When we pray, it’s perfectly acceptable to ask for things. God is our Good Father who wants to bless us (Mathew 7:11). And don’t we want to bless our children? But when we ask, we must also yield to God’s will. He always answers, but sometimes His answer is no, sometimes yes, and sometimes wait.
4. Repentance:
   • “and forgive us our sins… (Matthew 6:12a)”
     • When we pray, make sure the communication path is clear by confessing any sins we’re harboring. We can’t fool God anyway. He knows they’re there. Purposefully unconfessed sin can keep us from being honest with God and make us feel distant by clouding our relationship. God ALWAYS forgives us. We should likewise.
5. Spiritual Strength:
   • “…as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:12b-13)”
     • We cannot forgive others with our own strength. Nor can we fight temptation with our own strength. We need God’s power working inside us to accomplish these feats. And how do we get this power? By staying connected to God through prayer and walking with His Spirit.

The Lord’s Prayer begins with “Our Father.” It’s a prayer to a perfect parent. We will never measure up to God. NEVER. But we are supposed to reflect God in our parenting. These five elements of prayer should also be in our relationship with our children.

How these elements play a role in our parenting

• Praise:
  • First of all, let’s help our children see how awesome God is. Give Him credit for the good in our lives. During the trials, let’s remind our children they can trust God. He is Good. He loves them and wants the best for them.
• Submission:
  • As parents, we pray this not just for our lives, but for our neurodivergent children’s lives as well. We ask God for wisdom in raising our children. Until our kids fly the coop, they are under our roof and follow our rules. Let’s make sure our rules align with God’s.
• Petition:
  • I remember when my teachers used to say, “There’s no such thing as a stupid question.” Likewise, unless we’ve told them not to ask for a specific thing, our children should feel free to ask for whatever they wish. In our household, the saying is, “Take the no.” Kayla can ask politely for anything she wants, but no means no. Occasionally, I’m a sucker and allow room for polite negotiation.
• Repentance:
  • Let’s teach our kiddos to apologize. Preferably we want them to mean it. But an apology is an apology. If Kayla has been disrespectful to a teacher, she sometimes must write an apology note. If I find out she snuck something at grandma’s house, but grandma doesn’t know, I make Kayla call her to confess and say sorry. As parents, we ALWAYS forgive. When our children disobey us, disrespect us or are dishonest, an invisible barrier rises up between us and them. Repentance and forgiveness breaks it down.
• Spiritual Strength:
  • All children need discipline and love. And they all require God’s strength. However, as parents of neurodivergent children, we need to help them navigate the world even more than their neurotypical peers. They don’t have the same executive functions and social skills that neurotypical kids do. Because of this, we may need to be their social coach, help them more with homework, advocate for them, and get them the services only we can access.

Ending thoughts

Anyone and everyone can pray. As long as the heart is sincere, there is no wrong way to pray!

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Remember these five elements when praying: praise, submission, petition, repentance, and spiritual strength.

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