The Lord's Prayer

I begin a series of posts over the next several weeks on a prayer used by Christians throughout the world. It is a prayer that we have from Jesus himself, commonly known as "The Lord's Prayer."

The prayer came from Jesus teaching about prayer. The modern day prayer that we use in worship is a combination of the versions of this prayer we find in Matthew 6 and Luke 11.

The prayer begins, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." As we begin this prayer note that it it is with the word "our" and not "my." We become aware that we are praying with Christians throughout the world. While it may be a solitary prayer if used alone by oneself, we cannot forget our connectedness with other Christians.

We are praying to God in heaven. We are focusing our attention on the one who has the ultimate power to make changes in our personal lives and in our world. By beginning the prayer in this fashion, we remember the majesty and glory of the one to whom we are addressing.

Then, we continue with the phrase: "Hallowed be your name." We are asking that we would keep God's name holy. Respect for God's name is not only in whether or not we use God's name carelessly in our speech, but also in how we honor God by our entire way of life.

Notice here that there isn't the inclusion of our needs right at the start; rather, we are focusing on our relationship with God and honoring God in our lives. How many of us start our prayers with our needs before affirming and honoring God?

The Lord's Prayer is to draw us into closer communion with the God who has made us. We are to use this prayer since the very words came from Jesus himself.