Prayer is such a beautiful privilege. We get the opportunity to be able to pray with God. And so we pray in very, very many different ways across the world, but Jesus gave us a beautiful model as He prayed the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6. Let’s look at verses 19-13. He starts off and He says, “Our Father in heaven.” And this is just a beautiful way to posture our hearts as we go into prayer, realizing that we’re talking to our Father, our Dad. And think of it that way, a dad wants to listen to his kids. So we get to start off praying like God wants to hear what I’m saying.
And then He says, “hallowed be your name,” which really helps us to remember that even though God is our Father, we get to approach Him with a sense of awe and wonder at who He really is. What it looks like to know that He’s as personal as being our Dad, but he’s also as majestic as being the One who controls the whole universe. Coming to God in that posture says, “your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” helps us to acknowledge that it is God’s will that gets to be done. That regardless of what we think a situation should turn out, what we think should happen, it’s ultimately God’s will that is done. And we get to be the ones that partner with Him to bring His will to pass on earth just like it is in heaven, which gives us a whole lot of hope, because heaven’s definition is always better than what we see on earth.
Then Jesus says, “Give us today our daily bread.” That means that today He wants to provide for you, everything you need. And that doesn’t necessarily mean lots of money or things like that, but it gets to mean that whatever you need, remember Jesus said that the word is His bread. He eats the word. That God is going to give you whatever you need for today. Then He says, “And forgive our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” That means every day we get the privilege of walking in forgiveness. That wherever there’s a barb in your heart, wherever there’s a hurt in your heart from what somebody else has done to you, you get to say, “God, I forgive them, just like you forgave me,” which releases our heart to be free and open to Him.
Then Jesus says, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” So Jesus is saying, you know what? He knows. He was here with us. He knows what it’s like to be around people that don’t agree with us, or we don’t agree with. He knows what it’s like to be around people who may hurt us or say things that we don’t agree with. He knows what it’s like. And He’s saying, “You know what? Deliver us from that temptation. God help us to be somebody who loves everyone around us, who loves ourselves and who loves you.”
And then it says, “and deliver us from the evil one.” We get to say, “You know what? My Dad, He’s my Dad, but also the Ruler of the universe, who’s going to provide everything for me today, who will help me to forgive and walk in forgiveness, who is with me and wants to show through me on earth like it is in heaven. You are the one that will protect me from anything the enemy tries to do to me today.”
Can you see how beautiful that prayer is? That it encompasses all these different aspects of knowing that a loving Father and a Savior who has set us free from the enemy, and the Holy Spirit who loves to walk through each day with us, is with us in every circumstance. Wherever you are, whatever you’re going through, you can take courage from praying this way like Jesus did.
So Lord, thank you so much for giving us this model of how to talk to you. Of how to come to you and realize that you want to provide for us, be with us, help us, lead us, guide us, walk with us, love on us through each and every day. Thank you that our pray lives ignite as we learn how to pray like you do, out of beautiful relationship. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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