Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Matthew 6:9-13
The Lord’s prayer begins with the recognition that God is our father in heaven and that he is holy. We respond to his holiness by giving him glory, worship and praise. There are many ways to do this! However I would like to suggest that you do this today, by going for a walk of praise and thanksgiving and use the framework that Jesus gave his disciples in Acts 2:8, where he told them that they would be his, ‘witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.’ Often being outside and being on the move can bring a different dimension to prayer and your surroundings and creation can inspire you and speak to you and encourage you.
- Begin your walk by being thankful for what you have, where you are.
- Then continue with thanksgiving for the wider community. Before moving on, to focus on thanksgiving for the country in which you live and the wider world.
- Complete your walk with a time of praise, either aloud or in silence, using songs, psalms, and hymns.
- It may be that your circumstances preclude an actual walk. In which case you might like to sit quietly and spend time in thanksgiving and praise, or do the walk using your imagination.
A final thought: In his book Consumer Detox, Mark Powley, suggests, ‘spending a week where the only thing you ever do in prayer is say “thank you”. That’s nothing but thanksgiving for a full seven-day stretch.’ (Mark Powley, Consumer Detox, Zondervan, p.232).
He found it so helpful that he has continued to do this one day a week. A few years ago, during Lent, I set myself the challenge of going for a walk of praise and thanksgiving every day before work. Like Mark, I too found it an amazing experience and by Easter specific issues and attitudes, in my life, had changed significantly. So, I encourage you to try this exercise, for yourself, and to see how God meets you through it.