The Lord’s Prayer:
As Christians most of us know the Lord’s prayer in Mathew 6:9-13. In many churches we say this prayer at the end of the service. I would like to bring your attention about the intention of this prayer. The prayer here is not just one of the Prayer, or the Ending prayer of the service. If you study this prayer in detail, Jesus is teaching us the pattern of the prayer (or) the way to pray, so that our prayer will be effective in bringing answers. Let us see how we can implement Lord’s pattern of prayer,
OUR FATHER (Mathew. 6:9): If you note, at the beginning Jesus teaching us to address God as, “Our Father”. when we see the entire old testament, in most of the prayers except few verses in Psalm,People always addressed God as ‘God’ and not as ‘Father’. But, when Jesus came, He changed the relationship between God & Man as ‘Father & Son’ for the first time. So when we pray, remember that you are praying to your father.
Our FatherIN HEAVEN (Mathew. 6:9):Because God is our father, we are not supposed to lessen His respect or take Him for granted in our Prayers. He must be given all our reverential obedience and fear because He is Our Father in HEAVEN. He is in HEAVEN means He is supreme over everything.
Hallowed be Thy Name (Mathew. 6:9):After addressing God as Our Father with reverential fear, we must pray that His name be consecrated.
His name must be blessed, given glory, and His name must be sanctified in our Life.
Your Kingdom come (Mathew. 6:10): With reference to Mathew 6: 33 Seek first His kingdom &His righteousness, Jesus teaching us, even in our prayer we must seek and pray first for His kingdom before we ask for our needs.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Mathew. 6:10): In heaven there is no sin, and there is no hand of the devil, therefore NO hindrance to God’s will in heaven. Buton earththere is sin, there is satan and both of these always tries to hinder God’s perfect will and blessing to happen in our life. So, Jesus teaching us to pray that the will of God must be done on earth and in our life so easily and so freely just like it is done in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread (Mathew. 6:11):After finished praying for His kingdom and His will, we shall ask for our Needs, We can consider asking for bread as like asking for our needs. There is nothing wrong in asking for our needs, because Jesus taught us to ask for our daily bread. In fact, by asking for our daily bread and needs we are acknowledging that God is our source. But make sure before you asked for your need, God is your father, you are giving His honor, and you are seeking His Kingdom first, and you are asking for His will in your life.
Forgive our depts… (Mathew. 6:12):Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. It is vital, that there is no sin in our life. So, Jesus intends that we must ask for forgiveness. Also, in order to be forgiven we must have forgiven others who wronged us.
In short for the effective prayer, “We must be forgiven, we must have forgiven others”
…Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one (Mathew. 6:13):
This is one of the most important prayer, the world is filled with evil, sin and temptations, weneed God’s help to be protected from the temptation and delivered from the evil one. Do not forget this request in your prayer
for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever. Amen. (Mathew. 6:13):
Finally, before you finish the prayer give Glory, Honor, and Praises to God. That’s the way our prayers should end according to Jesus.
