The Lord’s Prayer
Most Christian children are taught to memorize The Lord’s Prayer. It has become a model for prayer. Children, of course, simply repeat it word for word without considering its meaning. Though it is good to memorize scripture, The Lord’s Prayer, I think, was given as a model or type to teach us the things that are important to pray for. Sometimes memorized prayers distance us from God rather than draw us closer because we don’t consider what we are saying. God is our Father in heaven. He is a personal God and sincere prayer is very important to him. In Revelation we read,
8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. (Revelation 5:8)
It may help, for example, if we actually imagine ourselves talking to our Father in Heaven and pour out our souls to him. In this podcast I should like to look at the Lord’s Prayer as a type rather than a teletype, and consider each concept individually
“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” (Matthew 6)
First take the concept, “Our Father which art in heaven.” That phrase, of course, is a perfect wording for the beginning of any prayer. It tells us who we are praying to. Following his resurrection, Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, who had come early to the tomb.
17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (John 20:17)
This is, of course, just prior to his ascension. But his words, “I am not yet ascended to my Father” tell us that Christ, Jehovah, is speaking of Elohim. He makes it clear that Elohim is his father as well as our father for he said, “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” That clarifies the words of the Lord’s Prayer when Christ said, “Our Father which art in heaven.” Christ is teaching us whom to pray to. We pray to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. Christ also said,
“12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:12-14)
5 RON
In the Lord’s Prayer we are told how to begin our prayer. We pray directly to our Father in heaven. In the Book of John, Jesus tells us how to end our prayer, in Jesus’s name.
Let’s continue with the Lord’s prayer.
“Hallowed be thy name.”
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines hallowed as to consecrate or to revere. To consecrate means to make or declare sacred, to devote solemnly.
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