Prayer is key. Listening to God and speaking with Him is done through prayer. Prayer is a joyous time, a privilege, it should be a natural thing for His children.
How do I pray?
Matthew 6:9-13
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.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And 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." (NIV)
Reading Matthew 6:9-13 Jesus not only teaching His disciples how to pray, but He's teaching us too. When we read the model prayer we see that in the first half of prayer we focus on God, not on ourselves.
"Pray then, like this"
Jesus did not intend His model prayer to be repeated; especially with no understanding. The Lord's prayer is to be used to give us a basic structure and content of what prayers should look like.
"Our Father in Heaven"
Prayer starts with a proper view of God; understanding of who God is and what He's like. In this point in time, Jesus would've been speaking Aramic therefore father would be translated to, "Abba". Jesus teaches us to approach God with a sense of family, "Our Father". So that we can understand that God cares for us in the same way a father cares for His children. Keep in mind God is also our Father in Heaven. Jesus teaches us that we can't forget that our Father is also the God who created all things; who merely spoke and galaxies came into existence. Not only must we approach God with a sense of family, but also with astonishment, fear, and reverence.
"Hallowed be your name"
Hallowed translates in Spanish to "Santificado"; it means holy or without sin. When we refer to God's name, we are talking about who He actually is; the name represents the actual person. When we say this in our prayer, we are calling to God to act in such a way that people will see that He is holy. People will see that He is glorious, sinless, perfect in all of His attributes.
"Your kingdom come"
God's kingdom is not an earthly realm. Jesus told Pontius Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world. God's kingdom is His kingly rule in the hearts and lives of His children. It is our prayers that His kingly rule pervades our lives, takes over our lives, controls us, and then moves out through us to everyone with whom we come into contact.
"Your will be done"
His will meaning His purposes, His desires are always done perfectly in heaven (on earth as it is in heaven). Being a Christian means we understand that it's no longer about us rather about Jesus. Elsewhere in the Bible Jesus asks, "Do you want to be my disciple? Then deny yourself-say no to your own will-and take up your cross. Live every day as someone whose will has been crucified; this is how you follow me." This is the whole point of being a Christian; it's no longer about us. May the Father's will be done. May the Father's will be done on earth in me. May His will be done on earth through me, just as it's done in heaven. Biblical prayer begins with God and it puts God first. When we pray, "Our Father in heaven," we fade into the background and we become consumed with God and His glory and His praise and His will. Our lives are no longer about what we've done, but instead about what God wants to be done in and through us. Prayer teaches us that we start by worshipping God, praising Him for who He is and for what He has done.
In the second half of the Lord's prayer, we are taught that prayer is an opportunity for us to express our total dependence on God. In the first part, we pray for God's glory; in the second part we express our complete and total dependence upon Him. So the prayer is still focused on God even though we're part of the picture.
"Give us this day our daily bread"
In this second half of the prayer we're admitting total dependence on God for our physical needs. God is concerned with the details of our life; He is concerned about our daily bread. This part of the prayer is not so much that we pray for food and nothing else. The point is that we have the opportunity to admit our dependence upon Him for all of our physical needs, which includes things like food, clothing, and shelter. It is always upon God whom we base our trust for even the most basic things of life. We get the joy of trusting Him; and in that trust, He provides all that we need day in and day out.
"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors"
This part of the prayer expresses our dependence upon Him, not just for our physical needs, but also for our spiritual needs. "God forgive me what I owe, just as I've forgiven what other people owe me." Jesus is not referring to money or favors. Jesus is picturing our sin as a debt - a debt we owe to God. The payment for that debt, which is forgiveness, comes only from God. If we want to be forgiven, we must forgive others. Jesus us not talking about the forgiveness that paid the penalty for our sins, those trespasses have been eternally forgiven. Jesus is talking about ongoing sin in the believer's life and the quality of our relationship with Him. If we don't forgive, then He will not forgive our ongoing sins and as a result a wall is constructed between us and God, a relational barrier that damages our relationship with Him. It is not an easy thing to forgive, but it sure is a necessary thing.
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
We know from James 1:13, that God does not tempt anyone with sin. What Jesus is calling on us to do is to express our total dependence on God so that we may resist the power of temptation, the power of sin. We do not have the ability in ourselves to resist evil, the enemy, therefore we express our dependence on God to deliver us. We cannot win this battle by ourselves that's why we cry out to God in dependence upon Him to not allow us into temptation that we cannot resist, but rather to deliver us from Satan and his evil.
Conclusion
"Our Father in heaven" - tell Him that we love Him as a perfect father
"Hallowed be your name" - tell God that we want our actions and words today to reflect His perfection.
"May your kingdom come" - ask God to show us ways in which His perfect will can spread throughout our lives and to those around us.
"May your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" - perhaps we can ask Him what area in our life is not following His will but rather our own.
"Give our our daily bread" - tell him all of our earthly needs; food, clothing, shelter, thanking Him in faith that He will supply.
"Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" - ask Him for strength to forgive, just as you yourself have been forgiven.
"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." - thank God He is a good God who does not tempt, but that He does provide protection from an enemy that we are unable to defeat on our own.
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