Teach us to Pray.

Teach us to Pray. Matthew 6.9-14

Many people pray this prayer in times of trouble or sorrow, others just as part of a liturgy; still others when needing to connect and remember they have a Father above who is sovereign, even when things do not make sense to them. It is a prayer that seems to obliterate denominational lines, and unite Christ followers. If there were no other reason, I would love it for that.

It came to be at the asking of the band of brothers who ‘did life’ with Jesus as he trained them up--the disciples. The twelve regularly saw Jesus make time to pray, often getting up in the early morning, and going off by himself. Impressed by the discipline and practice of a Messiah who needed to pray himself, they asked him to teach them. They were asking for a specific prayer or way of praying that would inform them and also bind them together. Remember, this was a new thing--life with Jesus the Christ; old ways of praying were being fulfilled in their day-to-day experience with Jesus. "Lord, teach us to pray," they simply said.

And so, Jesus gave them a prayer that was early on dubbed "The Lord's Prayer" or the "Our Father". Perhaps we should call it 'the disciples' prayer', because it is a manner of praying that we, his disciples, pray. It serves as a model we can adapt for our own individual prayers to our loving heavenly Father. Note that by starting with "Our Father" we are laying claim to our sonship, because through Jesus, we have become the sons and daughters of God. That is cool.

Let’s take a closer look at the prayer~

"Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name--Your kingdom come, Your will be done--on earth as it is in Heaven" - How right, how appropriate to begin by praising/adoring God, giving

God his rightful place in our hearts and minds!

"Give us this day our daily bread"

- We are to seek daily provision for our needs. Do you remember the old hymn "Great is Thy Faithfulness"? Ah, my mama loved that song. The lyrics are drawn from the scripture verse, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness."1

-Just think of it. . . our God has a steady supply of mercy for us each day.

"Forgive us our sins" – We ask God to search our hearts, see if there is anything we need to confess and turn from.2 When we earnestly ask God for forgiveness, and are repentant—meaning we go the other way from that area of sinful weakness--God forgives. ‘If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’3 That is good news. He says that ‘as far as the east is from the west, he remembers our sins no more.4 So when we get mired in guilt after having sought his forgiveness, and cry out again, ‘oh God, forgive me!’ He asks, ‘For what?’

"as we forgive those who sin against us" - we are forgiven by God in the same way we forgive other people~ wait, what!? Read Matthew 6.14-15. It is critical we become people who forgive others. <I’m wondering--if someone has trouble forgiving others, perhaps he has not sought God for forgiveness for himself and then accepted it; perhaps he does not know what forgiveness feels like. hmm.’>

"Lead us not into temptation" - "God, keep us strong in the face of temptation!" It is not God who tempts us, but our own desires which give way to sin...5 (powerful) ‘Got time? Read Thomas a Kempis on temptation.

"But deliver us from evil" - "Protect us from the ways of the evil one" Do not be daft, man; whatever you want to call it, there is an evil force at work in this world, and is responsible for our fallen state.

"For Thine is the kingdom, the power and glory forever. Amen" "For this life we have as your creation is to be lived for you and for your purposes so that you will be glorified forever"~ "Amen" - "Yes, so be it." Beautiful!

You know, I was a schoolteacher for years and can still remember telling my students to take out a clean sheet of paper, and write about 'this' or 'that' topic. For many, that sheet of paper caused them to not just go blank, but almost blind! 'Are you kidding me? 'You want me to write 250 words about ____? I don't even know where to begin!' For those that had attention deficit issues, it caused particular angst, and they usually stalled by breaking pencils, dropping their erasers on the floor, or digging in their desks. However, if I helped them construct an outline, or brainstormed some ideas, it launched them into the writing process. Essentially, that is what Jesus did for all of us--he gave us a framework for prayer, a construct that would forever give us an understanding of the way to approach our heavenly Father in prayer.

Here's a thought--why don't you write your own personalized prayer, line by line, using Jesus' model? Because as Jesus told the disciples, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you."6

So that you will pray to your Father,

Christine

PastorWoman.com

1 - Lamentations 3.22-23

2 - Psalm 139.23-24

3 - 1 John 1.9

4 – Psalms 103.12

5 - James 1.13-15

6 – Matthew 7.7