Prayer #2
Posted on Thursday, December 01, 2005 at 1:52 PM by David Zavadil
My friends, I apologize up front for the nature of this study. Due to an incredibly busy schedule, I am only posting my notes. I will work to do better next week.
Matt 6:9 Pray then like this: “ Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Often times when one thinks of the Lord's Prayer the reaction is one of, “I have prayed that prayer so often it has become meaningless.” What a shame! If we approach the prayer as it was meant to be used, it opens so many doors to deeper intercession and communion with God.
We should note first, contrary to many a liturgist, Jesus does not begin, “pray this prayer,” but “pray then like this.” He did not mean for us so simply recite and repeat this prayer, though that is not explicitly condemned. He meant to provide a model for our prayers. Keep in mind, Jesus never would have condemned superstitious babbling prayers in the previous verses and then encouraged us to pray in that manner. No, he desired to give us a form of prayer that is useful and understandable by God and man.
So then, how do we begin? “ Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Our prayer should begin with a focus upon God. A recognition of who God is is essential to our understanding of prayer, thus we should begin by praying back to God of his greatness and holiness. “Our Father in heaven...” Jesus encouraged us to acknowledge up front the supremacy of God, that He is over and above all else. We are to focus on our absolute dependency on God.
“Hallowed be your name...” – “to make holy.” αγιασθητω calls us to pray that God's name is to be holy, pure in our lives and on our lips. We are to acknowledge the Holy God in lives and in the life of the church. Our prayer concerning holiness reminds us that as He is holy, we are to be holy. (Lev 11:44,45; 1 Peter 1:15,16) Verse ten focuses us upon God's will, that He be glorified and his kingdom established here on earth. 10 “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins by asking, “What is man's chief end?” The answer is, of course, “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” In this portion of the prayer we are to pray that God will be glorified, that His will will be done here on earth as it is done moment by moment in heaven. God is glorified as His kingdom is established here on earth, as God's people are obedient to the command to go and make disciples. The challenge is for us to pray that God will be glorified as we take the gospel out into the streets and neighborhoods of the world.
Edited on: Friday, December 02, 2005 11:46 PMPosted in Bible Study (RSS)