Our Prayer
Matthew 6:7-15
Prayer doesn’t need to be flowery or verbose. It can be simple and honest.
Photo by Jack Sharp on Unsplash
“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. “Pray then in this way: 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 do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. - Matthew 6:7-15
Jesus taught his disciples this simple prayer. We call it the Our Father or The Lord’s Prayer. But it is also Our Prayer.
It begins with praise for the Father, but quickly affirms the most difficult action on our part, to do God’s will here on earth.
God gave us free will to choose for ourselves, and we are to pray that we do His will, not ours.
So, the first part of this prayer is us saying we will give up our will to adhere to the Father’s will.
That’s hard.
It’s like being put in charge of something you crave, and you can’t have any of it.
I remember one summer my father took a job as a Good Humor ice cream man. He would bring the truck home in the evening and unload all the ice cream bars, cones, and cups into our basement freezer so it wouldn’t melt overnight.
Imagine having all that ice cream within reach and not being able to have any of it.
That’s what I think of when I pray for God’s will, not mine, to be done.
Yeah, that’s too tempting for a kid, or anyone.
The prayer gets harder.
We pray that God does to us what we do to others. Oh boy. That can be a problem.
People make mistakes, and we get angry with them. Yet, we expect God to understand that we are only human when we make mistakes.
Isn’t the other guy, the one who screwed up with us, also human?
Now, in today’s world, you can not be human and screw up (AI), so I guess we don’t have to forgive non-humans when they screw up.
I digress.
When we pray to the Father, we are reaffirming our commitment to Him as His children. We are also acknowledging that God has given us the ability to learn for ourselves.
This is the key for me.
I can screw up and learn from it. I have the ability to walk away from God and find my way back.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.
God made us. God loves us. God wants us to be with Him forever.
I guess the least we can do is have a conversation with Him every once in a while. Not just when we want something.
More to come...