Stability for the body

Prayer is for the body. Prayer illuminates our physical life. Prayer can be a light shining in our life, giving order and understanding to experience.

"The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" Matthew 6:22-23

The word rendered "single" here is a Greek word meaning literally not folded; it seems to have the meaning of simple, or single in viewpoint. The word rendered "bad" is a common word for evil, but the Greek word is from a word for toil. "Bad" in this sense is toilsome, or difficult.

Prayer can be the lamp of the body. Prayer can give a simple, straightforward viewpoint of life. This is what is in the Lord's Prayer.

"Our Father who art in heaven": God is our Father; we can understand how He is looking at us.

"Hallowed be Thy name": His name is in His word; the Scriptures are holy. We can understand that; in a simple, straightforward way we come to the Bible, giving it honor.

"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven": This world is not the expression of His will. We can understand that. The kingdom can come; His will can be done. But it comes to a place. We can understand that.

"Give us this day our daily bread.": God supplies our needs, one day at a time. We can understand that.

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.": God gives mercy with His eyes open. We can understand that.

"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.": We need deliverance from evil; only God can do that, but He may work through trials. We can understand that.

This is a straightforward view of life. Prayer like this gives us a perspective on our physical life; it gives an order to what we do.

But if our prayers are really a toilsome effort to get our way, our physical life will not make sense. We will not understand what God is doing, or what we are supposed to do. Prayer should not be our will folded inside His will.

Simple, straightforward prayer gives our body stability. Light shines in our physical life; we can understand the difference between what God does, and what we do.

Pray then in this way.