The young person's guide to prayer

This is for praying out loud, use the same approach to your private prayers, if you like.

There are some good tips here, but I've jotted down some as well.

Prayer to our heavenly Father can be very simple. The shortest prayer in the Bible is:

"Lord, save me!"  uttered by Peter when he started sinking in the water (Matthew 14: 30)

A pattern you might like is:

Father in heaven...

• thank you for [some good thing -- event, idea, something you've read. etc.]

• please give me wisdom [in relationships... (think of specific people or activities)]

• please give me...[ask for some specific help, guidance, change in self or others]

And that's it!

For a public prayer it helps to say "amen" at the end so everyone knows it is finished.

Or, you can say:

"In Christ, amen."


Another way is to follow the pattern of the Lord's Prayer, but use modern words that relate to your life:

"Father in heaven, please bring your kingdom so all is done as you will

Give us our needs for our daily life.

Please forgive our failings and wrongs and help us to be kind and forgive others.

Help us to not follow the wrong way, but keep us from evil

Thank you for your love and power and your eternal kingdom of peace."