As I read through the Psalms I am thinking about prayer. I think about my own prayer life and the prayer life of my home church. The Scriptures ought to influence our prayer life. Jesus taught is disciples to pray, (Matthew 6:9-13)
“Pray, then, in this way:‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
‘Give us this day our daily bread.
‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
The key to understanding the Lord’s prayer is not found in any of the lines but in the proceeding statement: “Pray, then, in this way.” The Lord’s prayer is not a formal prayer meant to be used in place of our personal prayers to God but it is teaching on how to pray and the things that we should be calling out to God about in our prayers.
Many of the Psalms are prayers. One example is a Psalm that I read this morning; Psalm 109, David calling for vengeance on his enemies and salvation for himself. In corporate worship, my home church uses the Psalms or the Puritan book of prayers; however, I do not like this because I believe that it distances us from God. Prayer should be a time of drawing close to God. At know time, except for reading and studying the Scriptures is a believer closer to God than in prayer. Therefore, our prayer life should be real and not a form that is repeated or reading someone else's prayer. Our prayer life should be influenced by the Scriptures in what we think and say to God but it should not be simply repeating a formalized prayer written by someone else. The Lord’s prayer has all of the elements that we should be praying about; therefore, pray about the elements in truth from the heart.
Yesterday, Darlene and I were privilege to see with our own eyes the great sea creature Leviathan of the deep.
It is difficult to appreciate the ominence size of these creatures, 45 feet and weighing 45 tons. Then later on during the day we saw a blow whole created by lava cooling where it meets the roaring sea. 
How awesome and powerful is the Lord our God who created these things. To think that that the Lord our God; he who created heaven and earth and sea and all that they contain became a man in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died on a cross, in our place, for our sins is just amazing! Why would God do that, except that he loves us? Have a blessed day in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Christ alone,
Michael Peek
