Title: Excellent Prayer
Contents
Word: Matthew 6:9-13
Title: Outstanding Prayer
This verse is the content of the Lord's Prayer, which every saint recites at least once every week. It happened to me in the military. There is a time called religious activity at Nonsan Training Center. On Sundays, depending on their religious orientation, they go to church, temple, or church. However, for whatever reason, the number of recruits who want to go to church is overwhelmingly higher than the number of recruits who go to temples and churches. Because the number of people who can enter the church is limited, they are forced to go to a temple or a cathedral, not a church. However, the standard for sending is the recitation of the Lord's Prayer. After the teaching assistant recruits new recruits to the church, if the number is exceeded, the Lord's Prayer is memorized. Of course I memorized it for sure. As such, the Lord's Prayer is an inseparable prayer from the saints.
The Lord's Prayer means the prayer taught by the Lord, and it is a model prayer that Jesus suggested that the disciples should follow. The Lord's Prayer is called the 'Lord's Prayer', but in reality it is the 'disciples' prayer' and is our prayer. This prayer, repeated by all Christians on this earth, contains important elements that should be included in all prayers of the saints.
Also, the Lord's Prayer is a summary of the thoughts and theology of the Kingdom movement that Jesus started. The Lord's Prayer is an expression of the ideal and hope given to God's people who have entered the kingdom of God, gathered through the movement for the kingdom of God initiated by Jesus, and it shows the identity of the people of God.
The ‘Lord’s Prayer,’ the prayer the Lord taught, is not only the prayers that the saints recite every day and pray often enough, but also contains the most important things necessary for the believers’ life of faith. Therefore, whenever you pray the Lord's Prayer, it is very important to know the correct meaning and to do it sincerely.
1. It is a real prayer.
When a believer prays to God, there are two things that must be included in that prayer. One is a petition to God, and the other is a pledge that I will surely do what I have requested. A prayer that contains a pledge from my side that I will do what I have to do on my side in response to my petitions to God is a true prayer. In this sense, the Lord's Prayer is a genuine exemplary prayer, in which petitions and vows are certain.
This prayer that Jesus taught is contrasted with the prayers of the Gentiles who are repeating themselves, and the prayers of the people of the world who say that it is enough to satisfy their own desires. The attitude of prayer seeking those who do not have a decent life as God's people is what the Gentiles seek. Jesus said in Matthew 6:31, “Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat, or what we shall drink, or what shall we wear?
One of the mistakes we make a lot when we pray is to dare to preach to Almighty God or preach about our neighbors in the name of prayer. The most representative example is the prayer of the Pharisees, who are representative of hypocrites mentioned in Luke 18:9 and below. In Luke 18:11-12, the Pharisee considered himself special before God, standing alone and not mixing with others, praying in the presence of many, saying, “God, I am not like other men, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, I thank you for not being like a publican. I fast twice seven days, and I give tithes of my income.”
In contrast to these hypocrites' prideful prayers, the Lord's Prayer taught by Jesus is a real prayer. The correct posture of prayer that Jesus taught through the Lord's Prayer is a petition to have absolute dependence on or depend on God. At the same time, as the petitioner, my part is to pledge obedience to God that I will definitely do. In other words, it is true prayer that shows both will and obedience to God.
2. Prayer that shows intimacy with God (verse 9)
The Lord's Prayer perfectly shows the reverence of the Heavenly Transcendent in our relationship with God and the intimacy that He is our Father. As Jesus taught a model prayer, in verse 9 he said, “Pray ye in this way, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” By expressing the absolute God as Father, he showed closeness and made me feel afraid in front of God's name because it is a holy name that is completely distinct from any other name in the world.
If the fear of God is not presupposed, God need not and cannot be the object of our prayers. I am praying to God because God is transcendent, omnipotent, and infinite, so he can save me. He knows my problems and loves me completely, so I can love him completely.
While we are in awe of God, we dare to call God Father because we are children of God, and because of such a relationship, we become heirs of God. The word “father” is written as “abba” in the original text. The meaning of 'Abba' is 'Dad'.
No matter how rich or father-daughter they are, for a child to call his father ‘dad’ is a title that comes only when the relationship is very close. Jesus taught us to dare to call God “Daddy.” This emphasizes the closeness of our relationship with God. The more friendly the relationship, the more likely they are to make requests and to listen to them. To emphasize intimacy, Jesus used the word “Dad” ten times in Matthew 6:1-18.
It is because we call God “Daddy” that we ask for our needs through prayer or seek God’s help and God’s power for our needs.
3. It is a prayer for the complete life of the saints (verses 10-12).
There is a saying in Matthew 6:7, “When you pray, do not keep babbling like the Gentiles, for they think that they will be heard when they speak a lot.” This verse means that as God's people, we should not pray that has nothing to do with our perfect life. Even if you do not pray, such as prayers that come out of covetousness, hate and revenge on your neighbors, God does not listen at all. As God's people, God hears only prayers that are worthy of God.
The Lord's Prayer taught by Jesus teaches us the most basic need for a full life as God's people. As God's people, the saints should hope for the kingdom of God to be established on this earth above all else. Should be. Jesus' clear answer to this is clearly shown in Matthew 6:33. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”. Rather than become like the Gentiles, who are preoccupied with their physical needs, the saints should focus their attention on the work of God, namely, His kingdom and His righteousness, and plead for it.
Also, if it is necessary for a complete life as God's people, the believer should pray for food and for forgiveness of sins in concrete terms. Since the saints have a body, they need food for the life of the body. It is not God's will that believers must be poor. However, it is also not God's will to become rich through greed. Agur's prayer is found in Proverbs 30:8-9. Agur prayed, “I am poor, and I am afraid of stealing and profaning the name of my God.” But hunger often hinders the saints from living as saints. Therefore, believers should pray for daily bread that is free from greed. Through the daily bread, a confession of gratitude for God's love and giving comes out.
And it teaches us that we should pray to fight the sins that hinder the complete life of the saints. If you have committed an obvious sin, pray for it. If you have a quarrel with your brother, you should repent of what you have done and ask for forgiveness. If a brother has clearly done something wrong to me, I should reflect and pray for forgiveness for constantly claiming my righteousness and seeking revenge.
4. It teaches that the subject of prayer is not ‘I’ but ‘we’ (verse 13).
When we look at the prayer Jesus taught us, it is revealed that the subject is not ‘I’ but ‘we’. Paul also used the term 'our God' in most of his epistles, except for a few, when referring to God.
In our prayers to God, we always think of our relationships with our neighbors, those who have sinned against me, the poor with me, those who are bound by Satan with me, and those with me who fall into Satan's temptations, It must be remembered that this brotherhood is So, I have to think about sharing the food I received from God and sharing and passing on the forgiveness of sins I receive from God. You should pray like this with an attitude that will help you come out. This is the prayer that ‘we’ should pray.
Through the Lord's Prayer, Jesus taught us how to live in harmony with our personal lives. taught that two is better than one. Our relationship starts with love that comes from forgiveness. When there is forgiveness based on love, broken relationships are restored and only “we” are formed.
In Matthew 18:21-35, there is a parable of forgiveness. Verse 35 is the verse that contains what Jesus intended to say through this parable. In verse 35, it says, “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless you forgive your brother from the heart of each one.” Forgiveness must be led by me, and the initiative must come from the center. And with what comes from the center, it is telling us to forgive our brother and establish a relationship with the brother who forgives us. The brother referred to here includes everyone except me. Individuals who do not recognize “us” will be subjected to so-called bullying by God, unlike other people who form a beautiful relationship with God. In this regard, through the Lord's Prayer, Jesus emphasized and taught that the subject of prayer is not 'I' but 'we'.
Pneuma means breath. Pneuma is the breath God breathed into his nostrils after he created Adam. Just as we need to breathe air to live, the soul needs to breathe to live. The breath of this soul is prayer.
Asthma is a disease that causes obstruction of the bronchial tubes. There is no problem when inhaling, but when you try to exhale the air it doesn't come out well, only the sound is noisy. If prayer, the breathing of the soul, is disturbed, we cannot confess our sins, and we fall into a life of ostentatious appearances only. There is nothing to be afraid of when you look at the lives of those who have broadened the realm of prayer through the habit of praying. No matter what your concerns, the first thing you do when you hear new news is to kneel in prayer.
The Lord's Prayer taught by Jesus is the prayer that best shows the identity of God's people. Through the Lord's Prayer that Jesus taught, I bless you to become a person of prayer whose soul does not stop breathing.