On one occasion, after Jesus’ disciples had watched Jesus praying, they were obviously puzzled and impressed by what they had heard. They weren’t used to anyone praying the way he did. So they asked him, “Please teach us how to pray like that”.
What Jesus taught them has been repeated millions of times by countless Christians ever since. It’s what we know as the Lord’s Prayer. Although the words of the Lord’s Prayer are important, Jesus was teaching his followers HOW to pray, as much as WHAT words to use.
We’re going to look at the Lord’s Prayer bit by bit to see how it can help us to pray more like Jesus. The first bit of the Lord’s Prayer is:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
There are two important things to get hold of here. First, we should talk to God as “our Father”. God, though in heaven, is not remote; He is not uninterested in us; He’s not too busy. Jesus teaches us that God is close to us and cares for us, just like a good earthly father. We should call him “Father” because His desire is to be in a loving relationship with each one of us.
The second thing Jesus teaches us, is that we should pray that God’s name is to be hallowed. That’s a rather old-fashioned sounding way of saying that we want God to answer our prayers in such a way that He will receive worship, praise and glory. Prayers are to focus on him.
How can you put this into practice? Read the story of what happened in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 11 verses 1 to 4. Then put into your own words a prayer in which you thank God that He is your Father, that He loves you and cares for you. Don’t rush through that; think about it for a while. Then ask Him to bless you and those around you (friends and family), so that they will get to see His goodness in their lives.
