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"In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation. But deliver us from the evil one. Amen." (Matthew 6: 9-13; New King James Version)
This prayer is called The Lord's Prayer because Our Lord gave it to us. It should probably be referred to as the Disciples prayer, since Jesus taught it to His disciples. He would not have prayed it Himself, since He had no need of forgiveness. It is a model and a pattern that outlines the approach to take when addressing the Father. It is often recited and repeated as a form or memorized prayer. It is one prayer that most people can recite by heart.
When you feel like your prayers are bouncing off of the ceiling, using this prayer as an outline will help to keep you focused on what you are praying and to whom you are talking.
There are three parts to this prayer:
1) Praise and Worship: We praise God for who He is. We can pray to Him whenever and wherever we feel the need or desire to. We can even "pray without ceasing". (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
2) Petition: We bring our needs to Him. People who don't see their need for anything are either foolish or proud.
3) Intercession: Pray for loved ones and others as God leads us. We can have an impact on the world through prayer.
“Our Father”
When God approached Moses in Exodus 3, he was asked to remove his shoes, since he now stood on holy ground. Moses asked, “What is His name?” God responded with, “I AM WHO I AM”. Now, Jesus uses a much more familiar word: Father. There was a huge wall of respect, fear and reverence that divided God from all people. Jesus came to earth to be the bridge over that gap.
“Our Father” speaks about a close relationship. God is still holy, mysterious and all-powerful but wants a closer relationship with all believers. We can approach God as a child would confidently approach a loving parent, with childlike faith and trust. We can approach God as Father because Jesus has enabled our adoption into the Father’s family.
“Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.”
In the Hebrew scriptures, God was not named. YHWH was substituted and it is unpronounceable. He told Moses that His name is “I AM”. Whatever God’s true name is, we bless it. We hold His name above all others recognizing the character that is behind it. By sanctifying His name, we recognize His ultimate power and glory and establish recognition of our own dependence on and reverence for God.
“Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
In the model for prayer, Jesus taught the disciples to focus on God first. In other words, we are not to jump into all kinds of requests without recognizing God Almighty through praise. After first praising His name, we invite the arrival of God’s kingdom and His will to be done. We are expecting God to bring about a world of peace, justice and love. God’s will involves our ultimate good, and we welcome that and show our trust in His judgments. Now that we have praised and worshiped the Lord, He is prepared to hear our concerns.
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
Give us today what we need. Bread is a basic necessity and represents all of our basic needs: food, water, housing, health and clothing. We worry a lot about how we will manage from day to day; we worry about the future. God wants us to trust Him, one day at a time, to provide for our needs. We’re often ashamed to go and ask for such basic things. Society has taught us to get out and hustle after the wealth of the world. But our health and strength are not in our control and we trust God to provide us with both.
Therefore it isn’t wrong to pray for a job, groceries or a way to pay the rent. He wants us to trust Him with these things too. Besides the various crises that may bring us to our knees; the Father wants us to develop a daily relationship with Him; and confidence in Him.
“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
This request is for our spiritual needs. Now that we’ve established our relationship with our Father and asked Him to meet our physical needs, we ask for forgiveness. Here we acknowledge that we have failed God and not kept His laws and commandments. We drop our pride and request something that we cannot earn or buy on our own.
The second part makes it harder; “as we forgive…” Do we really want God to deal with us the way we deal with those who we feel have wronged us? We cannot expect God to say, “I forgive you, no strings attached.” while we harbor bitterness and resentment against others. It’s an attitude, to really understand and appreciate what it involves for God to forgive our disobedience and to acquit us.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.”
James 1: 13 assures us that God does not tempt us to sin. We will, however, have trials, "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." (James 1: 2,3) Temptation is not sin; it is an enticing invitation to sin, which requires determination to resist. God will provide the strength and direction to help us resist the allure.
Prayer is work. It isn’t always easy or automatic to turn to God when we are in the middle of problems, or when life seems overwhelming. Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane was such hard work that “He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22: 44) Jesus didn’t tremble or sweat before the Sanhedrin or Pilate; He dealt with His feelings before the Father and accepted God’s will for His life.
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