Pray like this...

“Pray then, in this way:  Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.”  Matt. 6:9

            The Lord’s Prayer is one of the best known passages in the Bible.  Children memorize it in Awana Clubs and confirmation classes.  Churches the world over recite it every week.  Many of us have reduced it to a vain repetition, words often spoken but rarely thought about or intentionally prayed.  Tertullian, a church father, said “How gracefully has the Divine Wisdom arranged the order of the prayer; so that after the ‘Name’ of God, the ‘Will’ of God, and the ‘Kingdom’ of God – it should give earthly necessities also room for a petition!”

            Jesus instructs us how to pray.  We are first to focus on who we are talking to.  “Our Father, who art in Heaven.”  Prayer begins with a humble faith in God, that He is, and that we have a loving relationship with Him.  We cannot come to God any other way, for without faith it is impossible to please Him (Heb. 11:6).  We must come to Him as trusting children come to their father.

            Next we are told to make God’s name holy.  “Hallowed be Thy name” puts the emphasis on God and His nature.  To ask that His name be holy is not to imply that it is not holy already, but instead to ask that it would be held as holy by men, specifically by me.  To pray “Hallowed be Thy name” is to pray that God be given the unique reverence that His holiness demands.  It is to pray that my life would honor His holiness in every action, in every word, and that I would be ever conscious of His nature. It is to ask that the whole world would make his name holy, would kneel in worship of him.

            Jesus goes on in this model prayer to teach us to align ourselves with God.  Before we ask for earthy needs, we are taught to ask that His kingdom would be established, that His will would be done.  Only then do we look to our physical needs, and then only briefly.  We are led on to pray for each other, for forgiveness, and then for deliverance from spiritual battles.  The prayer ends with amen, not as a statement that says “that’s it.  That’s all I have to say or ask for”, but instead “May it be so in accordance with Your will.”  Our focus is to remain on the Father.

            Prayer is not a shopping list.  Prayer as Jesus taught is to bring us in line with the will and purpose of God.  It is not of way of presenting what we are going to do for God and asking Him to bless it, but instead is a means of bringing us, actions and attitudes, into conformity with the mind and heart of God.

            It has been said that prayer changes things.  Mostly, prayer changes me.