Mat 6:7-15
7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:
“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 this day 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 evil.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Food for thought!
Jesus is giving us rules for prayer, the first of which is that God is a Father. Jesus insists that we must always remember that the God to whom we pray is a Father. If we believe that God is Father, it settles our relationship to our fellow-men. If God is Father, he is Father of all men. The Lord's Prayer does not teach us to pray My Father; it teaches us to pray Our Father.
Do you notice
that in the Lord's Prayer the words I, me, and mine never occur; it is true to
say that Jesus came to take these words out of life and to put in their place
we, us, and ours. God is not any one's exclusive possession. The very phrase
Our Father involves the elimination of self. The fatherhood of God is the only
possible basis of the brotherhood of man. If we all knew that God is our
Father, people would not kill one another in the name of God. Because he is our
Father, we are brothers; we are brothers because he is our Father.
Let us note the order of the petitions in the Lord's Prayer. The first three petitions have to do with God and with the glory of God; the second three petitions have to do with our needs and our necessities. That is to say, God is first given his supreme place, and then, and only then, we turn to ourselves and our needs and desires. It is only when God is given his proper place that all other things fall into their proper places.
The second part of the prayer, the part which deals with our needs and our necessities, is a marvellously wrought unity. It deals with the three essential needs of man, and the three spheres of time within which man moves. First, it asks for BREAD, for that which is necessary for the maintenance of life, and thereby brings the needs of the PRESENT to the throne of God.
Second, it asks for FORGIVENESS and thereby brings the PAST into the presence of God (our sins have always got to do with our past; we never sin in the future; sin is always a past act).
Third, it asks for HELP in temptation and thereby commits all the FUTURE into the hands of God (we always need help for what is yet to be not for what is already; help is about the future).
In these three brief petitions, we are taught to lay the present, the past, and the future before our Father; our prayer should always deal with our past, our present and our future. Our prayer should be about ALL OF LIFE, about what we did in the past, what we are doing and being in the present, and what we want to be and do in the future. This a prayer which brings the whole of life to the presence of God, it is also a prayer which brings the whole of God to our lives. When we ask for bread to sustain our earthly lives, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Father, the Creator and the Sustainer of all life. When we ask for forgiveness, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Son, Jesus Christ our Saviour and Redeemer. When we ask for help for future temptation, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Strengthener, the Illuminator, the Guide and the Guardian of our way. In the most amazing way this brief second part of the Lord's Prayer takes the present, the past, and the future (the whole of our life) and presents them to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit (the whoke of God).
In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches us to bring the whole of our life to the whole of our God, and to bring all God into all life. There is no province in our life, no matters, no issues whatsoever, that is no material for prayer. All in all of us can be told God in prayer.
Let us note the order of the petitions in the Lord's Prayer. The first three petitions have to do with God and with the glory of God; the second three petitions have to do with our needs and our necessities. That is to say, God is first given his supreme place, and then, and only then, we turn to ourselves and our needs and desires. It is only when God is given his proper place that all other things fall into their proper places.
The second part of the prayer, the part which deals with our needs and our necessities, is a marvellously wrought unity. It deals with the three essential needs of man, and the three spheres of time within which man moves. First, it asks for BREAD, for that which is necessary for the maintenance of life, and thereby brings the needs of the PRESENT to the throne of God.
Second, it asks for FORGIVENESS and thereby brings the PAST into the presence of God (our sins have always got to do with our past; we never sin in the future; sin is always a past act).
Third, it asks for HELP in temptation and thereby commits all the FUTURE into the hands of God (we always need help for what is yet to be not for what is already; help is about the future).
In these three brief petitions, we are taught to lay the present, the past, and the future before our Father; our prayer should always deal with our past, our present and our future. Our prayer should be about ALL OF LIFE, about what we did in the past, what we are doing and being in the present, and what we want to be and do in the future. This a prayer which brings the whole of life to the presence of God, it is also a prayer which brings the whole of God to our lives. When we ask for bread to sustain our earthly lives, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Father, the Creator and the Sustainer of all life. When we ask for forgiveness, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Son, Jesus Christ our Saviour and Redeemer. When we ask for help for future temptation, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Strengthener, the Illuminator, the Guide and the Guardian of our way. In the most amazing way this brief second part of the Lord's Prayer takes the present, the past, and the future (the whole of our life) and presents them to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit (the whoke of God).
In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches us to bring the whole of our life to the whole of our God, and to bring all God into all life. There is no province in our life, no matters, no issues whatsoever, that is no material for prayer. All in all of us can be told God in prayer.
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