Welcome!

This guide is inspired by Martin Luther’s brilliant letter to his barber titled, “A Simple way to Pray.” There Luther recounts his own daily prayer practice which consisted of reading and meditating on the basics of the faith like the Lord’s prayer and the ten commandments. 

I’ve taken Luther's ideas and adapted them significantly so you can practice what we have discussed in this course. 

Each day you’ll read, meditate, and be invited to journal on:

• a Psalm,
• a portion of the Lord’s prayer
• one of the ten commandments.

At the end of each session you will be invited to take twenty minutes of silence to practice contemplative prayer. 

I encourage you to commit to completing this guide. At the same time, feel free to adapt it to your needs and the time you have available. If you pray every part, then each day will take you about forty-five minutes to complete. If that's too much, that's okay, remember, pray as you can, not as you can’t. 

Still, please do not just read through each day like you would read through a book looking for interesting or important information. The benefit of this guide is not in the gems of insight or instruction scattered throughout. The benefit happens when you take time to slow down and be with God.

May God bless you as you take time with him!

Finally a few words on the source materials. First, I have freely paraphrased and adapted all the quotes from historical theologians on the Lord’s prayer in order to make them more accessible. Also the four-fold prayer structure with the ten commandments is from Luther’s work, but the prayers are my own or my own summaries of Luthers’. Finally, all scripture passages are taken from the Christian Standard Bible.

And lastly, I would absolutely love to hear your feedback and questions on this prayer guide and this entire course. Please contact me at [email protected]

-Brandon Booth
President and Spiritual Director
Signpost Inn