Title: Pray like this / Matthew 6:9
Contents Pray like this / Matthew 6:9
Key Verse: “Therefore, pray this way, our Father who art in heaven” (verse 9).
Word: A shepherd boy knelt down and murmured. A passerby thought it was strange and patted the boy on the shoulder and asked. “Hey, what are you doing now?” “I’m praying.” “But why are you memorizing only the alphabet?” “I don’t know how to pray. If I list even the alphabet like this, I think God will know what I want and make a prayer for me.” The boy's pure heart alarms those who offer ceremonial and formal prayers.
In this text, Jesus gives the disciples a pattern of proper prayer. That's the Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer contains all human hopes. However, we often just memorize this precious and good prayer without savoring it. Without realizing the great meaning hidden in each verse, I just memorize it like a mantra. Luther says: “The Lord’s Prayer is being martyred every day.” I hope that you can pray according to the will of the Lord so that the Lord's Prayer will no longer be martyred.
The prayer Jesus taught begins like this. “Our Father in heaven!” We should pay attention to the fact that God, the object of prayer, is the Father. God, the Creator God, the God who can do everything is the Father who satisfies my needs today, so why do I not seek and rely on him? Because they do not believe in ‘God is God’. Make God my Father through true prayer. We need to know that God is not only our Father, but also ‘our Father’. We must pray to become the God of all tribes and nations in the world and God the Father of our nation (2 Chronicles 7:14).
There are two main contents of the Lord's Prayer. One is about the ultimate purpose of life, ‘Why live?’. It is a prayer about the glory, kingdom, and will of God. The other is about ‘what do we live by?’ that we need to live. It is a prayer about the daily bread, the forgiveness of sins, and protection from temptation and evil. So, when in doubt as to why you live or what you live for, recite the Lord's Prayer. And seek the will of the Lord in that brief prayer.
The Lord's Prayer is complete. Complete in order and complete in content. The Lord's Prayer contains man's past, present, and future. Asking for food is a prayer for today. Asking for forgiveness is a prayer for the past. Asking for deliverance from temptation and evil is a prayer for the future. It is a prayer that heals the past, present, and future of mankind. Heaven is a country where you go on your knees. If we come to the Lord in prayer every day, our lives will be filled with the power, glory, and peace of prayer.
Prayer: Pray for wise men to discover the true purpose and needs of life through the prayers you have taught us, giving up on repeated prayers, prayers driven by selfish desires, and formal prayers. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Lord's Prayer