Lessons from the Lord’s Prayer

When Jesus taught His disciples the Lord’s Prayer, he was not giving them a prayer to memorize and recite every time they prayed.  He was giving them a model for their own prayers.  As you study the model prayer that Jesus gave, compare it with the prayers you offer to God.  What can you learn from the way Jesus prayed that can help you to be more effective in your own praying?

(I am sharing material from my devotional book The Experience Day-by-Day with God by Henry and Richard Blackaby)

God bless as you read....

Our Father

This is how you should pray:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

-Matthew 6:9

           Everyone wants to be loved.  God designed the family to be a source of love and encouragement.  If you have a family that loves you and that is in your corner, you can take on life with confidence.  But what is that is not your experience? What if, to you, family means criticism, anger, and even abuse?  There is another family that longs to love and to support you.  It is you Christian family.

           The Lord’s Prayer opens with the words “Our Father”.  Jesus wants us to remember every time we pray that we have a heavenly Father who loves us unconditionally.   The word our tells us that we are not alone: we are part of a family.  We share our heavenly Father with every other believer.  We have brothers and sisters in the spiritual family God has given us.  Through them, we can find strength and encouragement we need to face the ups and downs of life.  Likewise, God has called us to love and to serve our Christian family members in the same way Jesus did (John 13:34 ³⁴"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.)

           If we pray with selfish motives, without concern for our fellow believers, the Bible says our prayers are of the devil (James 3:14-15 ¹⁴But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. ).  If we pray while we are angry and unforgiving toward other Christians, God will frown on our prayers (Matthew 5:22 ²²But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell).  We ought never to pray with only ourselves in mind.  Every time we pray, God wants us to remember that we are a part of a family that is precious to him.

Personal Note:

I am a product of a broken family. I grew up without a father who will guide me the way mother did.  It was not a perfect family.  Circumstances, arguments arise within our family but at the end of the day, they will still be one of the most important people I want to live with. But I am blessed to have a heavenly Father whom I can talk to 24/7-Unlimited.  Though I cannot see Him, I know that He is alive and real and He responds to every prayer that I utter.  I am guilty that I used to pray for my “own” needs alone. I sometimes neglect to pray for other people.  It has always been “my need and my wants”.  Yet, even before I was created, the Lord gives us instruction how to pray.  In my 2 years and 8 months in my Christian life, I learned lots of truths about the Bible, about God’s words.  Prayer is not just words that we utter.  It is an act of having a personal communication with the Lord.  I believe that once I utter a prayer to Him, we will respond: either YES-NO or WAIT.