Thursday, September 09, 2010

Prayer: Jesus teaches His disciples to pray: part one

Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On 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 do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.


This is the prayer given by the Lord Jesus Himself to His disciples to teach them how to pray.
The first thing I see is that we are to pray secretly, simply, and without vain repetitions of words. We are praying to be heard by our Father and no one else. We are saying only what really needs to be said, and not repeating phrases as if that is what will make God listen to us.
The second thing I see is that we are to pray to our Father in heaven. He is the one who can hear our prayers, being omnipresent, omniscient, and all-powerful. God is the only one in heaven who is able to hear our prayers because human beings cannot hear and distinguish millions of simultaneous and continuous prayers.
The third thing I see is that the Father's name is to be hallowed or set apart in our hearts as the one to pray to, and as the only one who is our God and helper and provider, as scripture repeats many times in various places.
More later...

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