by Mrs. Rita D'Souza
Introduction: The disciples were in close contact with Jesus. They lived with him, saw him heal the sick, cast out demons and preach with authority. Yet, we don’t see them asking the question – Lord teach us how to preach or how to heal or how to work miracles, but they asked him – Lord teach us how to pray.
The disciples probably sensed that prayer was the vital force in Jesus’ life. Jesus just didn’t pray but lived a life of prayer. Jesus’ day was a busy and tiring one with crowds pressing to demand his attention, yet he arose a great while before dawn and went to a lonely place to pray (Mark 1:35). He spent the whole night in prayer before he chose his disciples. After multiplying the loaves and fishes (working a great miracle) he went up on a mountain to pray (Mark 6:46). The disciples knew that something special happened in those times of communion with his Father. They wanted to learn the secret to prayer.
We too, like the disciples should have the same burning desire to learn how to pray. If Jesus being fully God and fully man needed to pray, how much more do we need prayer in our lives?
The disciples, in asking how to pray probably thought that prayer was a formula or the recitation of certain correct words and phrases. Jesus does not put them off by saying that prayer cannot be taught, but in fact says “pray then like this” (Matthew 6:9) giving them what we call the Lord’s prayer (Read Matthew 9-13 and Luke 11:1-4) which is a model prayer for us. The very first words of the Lord’s prayer clearly shows that prayer is no formula but the expression of a relationship – “Our Father who art in heaven”.
The Lord shows us in this “model prayer” that as we begin, we need to know and relate to God as our Father, our “daddy God” or our “Abba Father”.
- Father signifies not only a relationship but also intimacy. God is our perfect Father, who loves us cares for us, protects us, guides us, provides for us and is there for us.
- Father signifies accessibility. As sons, we have access to God through Jesus. We never hear the words “currently not available” when we call out to him.
- Father signifies respect. We look up to our Fathers. We approach the Lord with reverent awe.
- Moreover the words – who art in heaven, refer not to heaven as a place or space, but to the majesty of God, his Omnipotence, his greatness, that he who is our creator in heaven is yet our “Dada God”.
- It is because Jesus died in our place for our sins that we can now enjoy peace with God and know him as our Father (Read Romans 8:14-16 and Galatians 4:6).
- When we say “Our Father” our attention is also drawn to the fact that we are a body and not just individuals and to approach God as my Father I also need to live in harmony with my other brothers and sisters. That is why God taught us to say “Our Father” and not my Father (Read 1 John 2:9 and 1 John 4:20).
Hallowed be thy Name: Hallowed means that God is Holy, set apart unique in his character and attributes. We worship the Lord for his perfect holiness. He alone is worthy of all our worship.
- We need to lift the name of the Lord through praise, thanksgiving and worship where we express in tangible ways our love and adoration for the Lord.
- In the Bible, the name of the person means the character of the person. When we lift the name of the Lord, we focus on who he is – his power, his love, his goodness, his faithfulness, that he is our shepherd, rock, etc.
- As we behold his glory in worship (2 Corinthians 3:18) we ourselves are changed into his likeness. We see our sinfulness in the light of his holiness which causes us to repent and turn from our sins.
Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done: (Matthew 6:33) – Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be yours as well.
- We pray that God’s will, God’s purposes, plans and desires are accomplished in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
- If his kingdom needs to come, Jesus needs to be the King and the Lord of our lives. We need to make him the Lord of every area of our lives.
- Just as the elders cast their crowns before God in Revelation 4:9-11, we too need to cast our crowns of pride, achievement and self before him.
- We need to surrender our own plans desires ambitions and pray not my will but yours be done.
- We need to spend time in silence in waiting on the Lord so that he can show us his desires and then we need to obey him.
- Jesus is telling us to pray for his kingdom to come and will to be done. This shows us that prayer precedes action. All our service and action should be an outflow of our worship and prayer.
- Praying for God’s kingdom is the desire to see Jesus as the personal saviour and Lord of all we come into contact with and hence the willingness to pray for and reach out to others even while we are still hurting or going through trials and thus we put his kingdom first.
Give us today our daily bread: This refers to bringing our personal needs to God in prayer. Matthew. 6:8 says that our Father knows our needs before we ask him. In the “Our Father” the Lord teaches us just to call him father, second to hallow his name, third to seek his kingdom and will and then to bring our needs before him.
- We are not to come before God with a long shopping list or to be preoccupied with ourselves, our needs, our problems and yet the Lord does not say don’t pray for yourself at all even though he already knows what we need before we ask.
- He tells us to pray for our daily bread because in doing so we acknowledge our dependence on him, we acknowledge our dependence on him; we acknowledge that he is the source of everything that we need. When we don’t bring our needs to him in prayer, we tend to worry, to try to solve our problems through self effort, or to rely on someone else.
- The word bread speaks of our needs, not our wants. The Lord promises to meet all our needs and not all our wants.
- The word daily shows us that we need to live one day at a time. Matthew 6:34 says “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious about itself. Let the days own trouble be sufficient for the day.”
- Daily bread also has reference to the manna that the Lord provided the Israelites with in the wilderness in (Exodus 16:11-22).
- God commanded them to gather it daily and leave nothing for the morning. Some of the Israelites did not listen and kept some which bred worms and became foul. The Israelites probably had a fear for the morrow. What if there was no manna the next day. But it was no use collecting for the next day. They had to learn daily dependence on the Lord who is faithful.
- Lastly while praying for our daily bread, we also remember Jesus’ words when he said “I am the bread of Life” (John 6:48) thus realizing that he is our everything, our all in all.