Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.“
Matthew 6:9-13 NLT
I admit that prayer sometimes has been a chore, a practice I don’t understand but a necessity for my faith. Why is prayer important?
As they always say, it is a form of communication with God. A better way to understand it is why do you journal, or go to therapy or vent to your friends. There is something cathartic about verbally translating the feelings within. The power is you speak to the creator of ALL and things move when you speak to God.
Your heart moves, your posture moves, your situation moves and everything about you changes.
When loosely looked at, I believe the Lord’s Prayer can be broken into 3 parts. To who, petition and repentance.
To who
The phrase “Our Father” reminds us of the closeness we have been granted. God has become accessible, He has become Dad.
Who is God to you in this current season? As you say your prayer think about who God has shown up as in your life. Which version of God do you need right now?
Petition
May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
What does it mean that may His kingdom come soon? I do not believe its necessarily a plea for Jesus to come back soon, I do not think God wants the object of your prayer to always be asking Him to come collect us from this wretched world. I believe it is more so a plea for the powers of the kingdom to come soon.
To draw this picture remember how Jesus always spoke of how the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God at that moment was Jesus, our understanding of Jesus and His message is aided by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit stirs in us and helps us understand, and we know the unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is rejection of the Holy Spirit through denying His influence and power.
Asking God for His kingdom to come I believe is asking God to pour out His Spirit on us, because that way we are able to do His will and proclaim the Good News effectively.
Our earthly life should be the projection of the heavenly realms.
Hence seek holiness, long suffering, worship and praise God.
Give us today the food we need
As Jesus mentioned that we must not worry about tomorrow, it is reiterated here that as we pray to ask for the bread ("our livelihood") let us pray for what we need today.
Your livelihood is not only your morning coffee, your bagel or your morning jog. Your livelihood is primarily and mainly Jesus. The Bread of Life. So you do not pray for Jesus to be with you in advance, you pray that Jesus is with you today and in the now. This enables us to continue to foster a relationship with God, a daily petition.
Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us
One of the beauties of our faith is the power of community.
The only way to love self, is to love others.
God understands you will be wronged. Here the framework is before you ask forgiveness for your own sins, forgive somebody. Before writing this, I used to think I need to forgive a grudge. I need to forgive someone I have been in a feud with. However, I realized I am in no feud with God nor does God have a grudge against me yet I have to ask for forgiveness daily and constantly. This is because I wrong Him even when I am not aware.
This means, if someone gave you a dirty look, they cracked a joked that hurt you, they were insensitive or racist. Forgive. If they left the stove dirty, or they lied and you knew. Forgive. The lengths you go to forgive others, are the lengths God goes to forgive you.
And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.“
All of who we are and what we are capable of is anchored by God. It is by His grace and compassion for us that He gives us strength to resist the evil one.
Because of God’s love, He rescues us from the evil one. Gives us a way out of a temptation. A practical tip to help partner with God on getting out of sin is find an accountability partner.
"Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching."
2 Timothy 4:2 NLT
There is something about sin that wants us to stay in the dark. We fear that the consequence of our openness is rejection.
However find someone, there always is someone to turn to. The way it works is it is a little embarrassing to text somebody every other day that you messed up, so you get your act together slowly but surely.
“Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.”Psalms 19:13 NLT
Pray this over yourself as your navigate temptations and fear of falling
So a structural template of how to pray from the Lord’s Prayer is:
Make it personal. To whom are you praying. What is His name in this season for you
Ask for what you need in the spirit.
Ask for what you need on earth today.
Pray for someone and forgive someone
Pray for your own forgiveness
Ask for strength against the evil one, through Jesus Christ
Thank you so much for reading and I am praying for all of you as you read this. May your prayer life be transformed.
Recommended media for the Lord's Prayer
When I Pray- Doe
Every Hour- Kanye West, Sunday Service Choir
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