This week, one Bible passage that we looked at was the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6. The setting was the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus gives a warning about praying; don't pray to be heard and seen by men; don't babble on when you pray; instead when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Jesus wasn't warning against public prayers (we have lots of example in Scripture of public prayer). He was warning against the wrong attitude when we pray. He was warning against meaningless repetition just to sound good. The Jews of the day highly regarded long prayers. Jesus was showing that it is the heart attitude that matters to God.
Then Jesus gave the Lord's Prayer as a framework for how to pray. In Luke, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray and Jesus gave them the Lord's Prayer. There are alot of ways to examine the Lord's prayer and commentate on it. The model I want to share today is the P's of the Lord prayer.
1. Praise & worship "Our Father....."
2. Provision "Give us this day...."
3. Pardon "Forgive us our sins...."
4 Protection "Lead us not into temptation"
5. Praise "For Thine is the Kingdom...."
The phrase that stood out to me was "Hallowed be Thy name". Thy name encompasses the whole of who God is, His character, His holy unfathomable ways. His name describes who He is and isn't just a name like Sally. In another passage, Jesus instructs to ask God for what we need, in Jesus' name. More on this next time, I blog.
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