Pray Like This

"Pray then like this: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' " - Matthew 6:9-13 ESV

The depth of this passage is truly amazing. It is prayer that shows us what to do as we are praying it. Here are a few things I see this morning:

- God Is holy. Let His name remain holy. Let it be restored to holiness in our thinking.
- God has a will and it can be established on Earth. It isn't a photocopy of our will flipped inside out. It is a holy will that is evident in Heaven and can be evident on Earth and prayer is part of that somehow.
- Daily bread is our right... no... it is given. It is grace given.
- The prayer teaches us to own our actions as forgiveness reigns in our life.
- We acknowledge our tempt-ability while seeking deliverance at the same time.

'Pray like this.', Jesus says.

Heaven is invisible. I dare say most of us haven't seen it yet and that parallels the knowledge of God's will. We know about Heaven by linking together passages of the Bible and forming a picture. We do that with God's will on Earth also.

At times we want things so badly but I don't see Jesus instructing us to pray for what we want in this prayer.

Yes, There are these passages.

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV

"Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." - Psalm 55:22 ESV

But Jesus' prayer is missing this element because He is teaching us to live life His way.

I see a focus that is greater than my needs here in His prayer.

I think it is very possible to live a life before God and still be bitter that 'our' will wasn't done. As fallen humans we easily impose our will on those around us... even God.

"And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' " - Genesis 1:28 ESV

Adam lacks a spiritual life so he sees every problem as a nail and uses the hammer God gave Him originally to try and solve it. We seek to subdue and have dominion over God's will but that only works on Earth. As spiritual people we want to see Heaven on Earth.

But then we return to the holiness of God's name. When that holiness is restored in our thought life we are made whole also. It doesn't give us answers but it does give us perspective and a desire to move forwarding relying on God's goodness.

Jesus lived this way. He taught His disciples and even today He functions just this way.One day the Earth will be subdued in a way Adam couldn't even dream of. Jesus Is Lord. That fact is known in every corner of Heaven. As we pray let the knowledge of that reality flood us.

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