THE LORD’S PRAYER
Matthew 6:9
OUR FATHER
Part #1 of 8 - The
Lord's Prayer
This passage is called
The Lord's Prayer.
It is called The Lord's
Prayer, because the Lord gave it.
However it is not a
prayer that Jesus had to pray, but a prayer that Jesus' disciples should use as
a model for their own prayers.
The value of the Lord's
Prayer is not found in the repetition of prayer in church services, but in
using it as a model. The Lord's Prayer is a skeleton, when we pray, elaborating
on each phrase, we put "meat" on that skeleton to produce a prayer
that is pleasing to God.
Over the next several
weeks, I hope to share with you the various phrases found in the Lord's Prayer
and teach you how to pray them in your prayer times.
We begin by thinking of
our approach to God in Prayer. It is so
easy to rush into his presence, forgetting to whom we are speaking. When we
approach God in prayer, we need to pause and to focus on just whom we are conversing
with. When we come to Him and say,
"Our Father which art in Heaven," we are reminding ourselves of three
things:
PRAYER IS PERSONAL
The words "Our
Father" are personal words.
They imply a personal
relationship with God.
Oh you might ask
"Isn't God everyone's Father?"
In the sense of God
being creator, yes he is.
Malachi 2:10 says in
part, Have we not all one father? hath not one God
created us?
But there is another
sense in which God is not the Father of all.
When Adam and Eve
disobeyed God by eating the wrong fruit in the Garden of Eden, there was a
separation that took place between man and God.
Israel was told in
Isaiah 59:2, "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."
God is righteous and
just.
Somebody had to pay for
our sins. The logical choice would be ourselves. We deserve to be punished.
However, God in his love
sent His Son to die in our place! Isaiah 53:5
When a person realizes that
he is a sinner without hope and turns in faith to Jesus Christ as the one who
died for his sins, many wonderful things happen. Let me mention two of these
things:
First, he or she is no
longer at war with God because of sin. Romans 5:1
Second, he or she
becomes a child of God. John 1:12
As a child of God, you
have just as much right to come and talk to your Heavenly Father, as you do
your earthly father. The only difference
is, your Heavenly Father is a better listener and more available!
When we come to our
Heavenly Father, we must realize that we only have access into God's presence
because of what the Lord Jesus has done for us. Therefore, we are to pray in
Jesus' name. John 14:13-14
When I come to God in
prayer, calling him "Father", I am on speaking terms with the God of
the Universe! And to show you how personal my relationship with God in prayer
really is, consider the words of Romans 8:15-16: "For ye have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:"
The word Abba is Aramaic
for "Daddy". How tender, we are coming to our Heavenly Daddy! This does mean that we should show respect for
him, but it also means that we are coming to someone who loves us personally as
His own child.
As you begin your
prayers, approach God in Jesus' name as your loving, Heavenly Father.
You are coming to
someone who cares.
You are coming to
someone who wants to listen.
You are coming to
someone who knows you and understands you better than anyone else in this whole
world!
PRAYER IS PRACTICAL
When you pray, you pray
to "Our Father". He is not just your Father, but the Father of all
those who know the Lord Jesus as Savior.
You are coming to pray
with and for others!
You are not the only one
at the throne of grace!
And although you are
there to talk to God about your own needs, you are also there to talk to God
for the needs of others as well.
The whole Lord's Prayer
is in the plural, therefore you are also praying for others!
And we are told to pray
for others. Ephesians 5:18, James 5:16
But more important than
praying for others, you are praying for the glory of God! You are not to come to God to get Him to do
your bidding. God is not a genie in a bottle. You don't rub the bottle of
"prayer", so God, the Genie will grant you 3
or more wishes.
You are coming to God to
accomplish His program.
That's why the words,
"Hallowed be Thy name," "Thy Kingdom Come," "Thy Will
Be Done," and "Thine
is the kingdom."
Think of being
contracted to build a house.
The man who is
purchasing this house simply says to you, "When you need something, ask.
I'll provide it."
You need a bulldozer and
other equipment to get the ground ready and to dig a hole for the basement. You
ask, and the equipment and operators show up.
You need cement for
footers for a foundation. So you ask. The cement truck arrives.
You need lumber, you
ask, and it arrives.
You need carpenters,
electricians, plumbers, and ask for them. They arrive.
And so it goes through
the whole building process.
When something was
needed, the man building the house was asked, and whatever was needed in
materials or laborers was provided.
Why was the man so
cooperative? You were building his house!
He'll have the glory of living there and enjoying the finished product.
So it is with your
prayer life. Jesus is building a Church, but He's using you. And He says to you, whatever you need, ask
and I will provide. 1 John 5:14-15
Prayer is practical. You
are coming to "our father" with countless other Christians.
You are coming to pray
for others, as well as yourself.
But most of all, you are
coming to bring glory to God in your prayers and to accomplish His work.
PRAYER IS POWERFUL
"Our Father, which
art in Heaven..."
As well as having a
Heavenly Father, I still have an earthly father.
When I was little and
Dad was in the prime of his life, I viewed him as fairly powerful. He could do things that I couldn't do, and he
could provide things that I couldn't provide.
I saw my Dad this
week. With all due respect, my Dad is
now a little old man. Lord willing, he'll be 80 in August. He has been fully
retired for years. His health is not the greatest, and things that he used to
be able to do with no sweat, he struggles to do now. I love my Dad and respect him greatly, but my
Dad is limited in his power.
But when I pray,
"Our Father, which art in Heaven", I am reminding myself that my
Heavenly Father is in charge of the throne room of the universe! It is God who sits on the Heavenly Throne and
runs the show!
Think for a moment of
the power of the one with whom you have the privilege to speak.
Our Father is
all-knowing. Psalm 139:1-4
Our Heavenly Father is
also present everywhere. He's always here! Psalm 139:7-10
Our Heavenly Father also
understands us because, he is the one who made us!
Psalm 139:14, Psalm 103:13-14
Our Heavenly Father is
also all-powerful. There is nothing too hard for Him to do!
Jeremiah 32:17
My earthly Dad is a
pretty generous guy. He'd do anything for his children that is good for them,
if he could. Especially now, he can't.
However, my Heavenly
Father will also do that which is good for me.
And He has the power to
do it!
So when you approach God
in prayer, don't rush into His presence, unless of course, it's an emergency!
Come before him as Our
Father
Come as His child in
Jesus name.
Come to pray for His
glory and the needs of yourself and others.
Come, realizing that your all-powerful Heavenly Father has the power and the
desire to answer your prayers.