All though I consider God to be with me always I sometimes think of our relationship as long distance. That is why I use the title Letters and Phone Calls. A large part of any working relationship is communication. If your relationship becomes divided by geography then we resort to letters and phone calls to keep that vital link alive. In a similar sense we must rely on the Bible (letters) and prayer (phone calls) to keep communicating with God.
When in battle one of the first things an enemy will attempt to do is sever communications and supplies. Why do you think that is? There are many places in the Word that spiritual warfare is mentioned. The territory that is under attack is your relationship with God. If you think a little bit about what is at stake then you will realize just how important it is to maintain your communication with God.
I have talked a lot about the importance of reading the Word of God on some of my other pages. This page I want to talk about prayer.

Matthew 6:5-15
5 And when you pray, do no be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray , go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then you Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him.

In this portion of the scripture Jesus is stressing the importance of praying for the benefit of furthering the relationship between God and you. It is not meant to be used as a platform for impressing your fellow man or to preach at them.

9 This then is how you should pray: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus expresses the importance of addressing our heavenly Father with respect for his holy person. He also lets us know that we must communicate a desire for God's will to be done in our lives.

11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."

With these three verses Jesus is letting us know that it is all right to ask God to aid us in all our needs. He speaks of our mundane needs like food, the forgiveness of sin and our ability to forgive others, and even dealing with temptation which is an every day event in spiritual warfare.

14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

The forgiveness of sin is a key element in having a relationship with God. Forgiveness is a sacrifice of love. Jesus gave us two simple commandments, which he stated are the sum of all the Laws and the prophets. The first and most important being to love God with all your heart and soul. The second commandment being to love your neighbor as you love yourself. So to truly be a loving, caring and forgiving person we must work to achieve both things within ourselves and somehow reconcile the two (meaning our love for God and our love for our fellow man).
I personally consider the Lord's prayer to be a guideline to prayer. The elements must be there, but the words can be tailored to make them more personal for your situation. Just remember that God is a real being with real feelings. Sometimes a Father just likes to have his children give him a call to say "Hi dad I love you."

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