THE MODEL PRAYER (PART 1)

MODEL PRAYER Part 1 Part 2

"In this manner, therefore, pray: 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 forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil
one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory
forever. Amen." (Matthew 6:9-13)

In this great sermon – perhaps the greatest sermon ever preached
– Jesus taught His followers how to give in the right way, how to
pray in the right way, and how to fast. In this section dealing with
prayer, Jesus began by correcting false ideas and practices about
prayer. Now in this part, Jesus gave them a model prayer: "In this
manner, therefore pray."

The model begins with the right way to address God: "Our Father
in heaven." The right kind of prayer comes to God as a Father in
heaven. It rightly recognizes whom we pray to, coming with a
privileged title that demonstrates a privileged relationship. It was
unusual for many Jews of that day to call God "Father" because it
was considered too intimate. One commentator even says that
there is no evidence of anyone before Jesus using this term to
address God. When it came to prayer, Jesus was a true
revolutionary.

So happily, we can call Him "Father." It is true that God is the
mighty sovereign of the universe, who created, governs, and will
judge all things – but He is also to us a Father.

Yet we remember what kind of Father He is. He is our Father, but
He is our Father in heaven. When we say "in heaven" we
remember God's holiness and glory. He is our Father, but our
Father in heaven.

We also notice that this is a prayer focused on community; Jesus
said "Our Father" and not "My Father." G. Campbell Morgan rightly
observed that, "The whole prayer is social." This prayer has no
reference to "I" or "me" or "my" in this prayer. The individual comes
into the presence of the Father, but then they pray as one member
of a great family.

After the opening address, the model prayer continued: "Hallowed
be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth
as it is in heaven." The right kind of prayer has a passion for God's
glory and agenda. His name, kingdom and will all have the top
priority.

By instinct, each of us wants to guard their own name and
reputation. But we must resist the tendency to protect and promote
ourselves first and instead put God's name, kingdom and will first.

Jesus wanted us to pray with the desire that the will of God would
be done on earth as it is in heaven. In heaven there is no
disobedience and no obstacles to God's will; on earth there is
disobedience and at least apparent obstacles to His will. The
citizens of Jesus' kingdom will want to see His will done as freely
on earth as it is in heaven.

A man can say, "Your will be done" in different ways and moods.
He may say it with fatalism and resentment. "You will do your will
and there is nothing I can do about it anyway. Your will wins, but I
don't like it." Or, he may say it with a heart of perfect love and trust:
"Do Your will, because I know it is the best. Change me where I
don't understand or accept Your will."

One might rightly wonder why God wants us to pray that His will
would be done, as if He were not able to accomplish it Himself. God
is more than able to do His will without our prayer or cooperation;
yet He invites the participation of our prayers, our heart, and our
actions in seeing His "will be done on earth as it is in heaven."


By David Guzik