Jesus prayed earnestly, purposefully, and with certainty. He knew that God answers prayer. “The Lord’s Prayer” was given during Christ’s Sermon on the Mount to provide an example for how we should approach the throne of grace. Prayer is the prelude to peace, the prologue to power, the preface to purpose, and the pathway to perfection!
“Our Father” – Our focus in prayer is on our Father. It is an intimate time of developing our relationship with our loving heavenly Father. Prayer is best done in concert with other believers. Prayer is not an exercise in isolation. We must regard other Christians as our sisters and brothers that also call God their Father. Together we acknowledge He is our creator, sustainer, guide, provider, protector and authority. Without good communication with our Father, we are without hope. One’s prayer life is dependent on the quality of our individual and corporate relationship with the Father.
“Who art in heaven” – Our Father is not limited by earthly restraints. We communicate directly with the everlasting God who controls all things. We do not need to wait or rely on any mediator. God is not limited by human restraints. Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. God’s thoughts are greater than human ideas. The Lord is in the heavens – He does whatever He pleases. Prayer is a bridge from our earth bound limits to heaven’s infinite resources.
“Hallowed be your name” – We come to God with a holy reverence. Only God deserves to be regarded as “Holy, Holy, Holy. Lord, God Almighty.” He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. His name is above every other name in heaven and earth. We worship Him with thanksgiving and come into His courts with praise. We are to exalt Him with all of His attributes not forgetting one aspect of His love nor any one of His benefits!
“Your kingdom come, your will be done” – We are asking for His kingdom to come in all of its spiritual qualities of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. We ask God to extend His kingdom in quantity by bringing Christ’s salvation to every nation and every person. His kingdom breaks down all barriers that disallow God’s will from controlling each person, society and situation. His kingdom helps us put our priorities on to participating as workers in the spiritual harvest field rather than being merely maintenance minded.
