This passage is a large part of the Sermon on the Mount which is too big a subject to discuss in the word count that I am allowed!! So, I am taking one small but incredibly important part of it, which we as Christians live with and live by daily – The Lord’s Prayer: the prayer that Jesus taught the disciples. No other words in the Bible are spoken by the people of our world more often than this prayer. What was Jesus’ intention when he taught us this? Was it to simply repeat the words or was he giving us a pattern by which we could pray, or was it both?
Prayer is a time when we can be on our own with God and even on those days when you are in the depths of despair or the world around you seems to have gone mad , you have these words to say when nothing else comes to mind.
We can also use this as a pattern for our prayers:
Praise – be thankful and honour God, our Father, our Daddy, for all that we have around us.
Kingdom – God has a purpose and however desperate our world seems He has a plan for us all.
Needs – God is our provider - for all that we need for our body and our souls - from the word of God through to our work, food and clothes. It is okay to ask for help in our daily struggles.
Forgiveness – even when we do not deserve it or have done nothing to earn it, we have been washed clean by the blood of Jesus when He was crucified for us. This teaches us that we should offer mercy and forgiveness to others around us even if we feel that they do not deserve it.
Grace – Pray that God will help us to overcome temptation as He is with us forever and is faithful to the end - we should glorify Him in everything we do.
We are always receiving God’s forgiveness and so we must go and do likewise. There is a parable in Matthew 18: 21-35 that clearly sets out the link between forgiving and being forgiven.
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The Lord’s Prayer from The Message Bible – “Our Father in heaven, reveal who you are. Set the world right: Do what’s best – as above, so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You are in charge! You can do anything you want! You’re ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes.”