‘’Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name’’… God asks us to call Him Father, and to cry out to Him in intimacy. Even in all His awesomeness and omniscience, He cares for us so much that we can call the Holy God of all, our Father. He gives us open access.

‘’Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done’’… God reigns above and below, and He wants us not just to pray for ourselves, but to pray for His kingdom to be established and evangelised to the ends of the earth and brought under the power of the gospel, through our obedience to be about our Father’s business.

‘’Give us this day our daily bread’’… Most of us pray for many things to come about in our own lives and in the lives of others. Bread was the staple diet in times past before Christ and has been ever since. Bread is a symbol of nourishment and sustenance. Just as the Israelites were brought out of Egypt, freed from slavery, fed and sustained, we too have been freed from the bondage of sin and captivity. Yet, also just like the Israelites after they were freed, we too moan and desire more. We complain that this and that isn’t right, and that things aren’t the way we want them. God, just as He gave to the Israelites, gives us good food, He gives out of His perfect love, abundant nourishment from heaven. It may not be what we want, but He gives us what we need and when we need it. Our Father provides for us what is good, and what is right.

‘’And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’’… Temptation is an enticement and pull that draws us in to all that glitters, but all that glitters is not gold and would trap us into evil from which we need to be delivered. Our Father will deliver us from these things, and He wants us to ask him to help.

We need to learn to pray in humility, praise and self-sacrifice, not for what we want, but to tune into His will and listen to what our He has to say to us, and for what He wants us to pray. He wants us to go to Him with all that would tempt and hold us in bondage, so that He can rescue us from that place. He asks us to call Him Father, and to participate in bringing about His kingdom.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.

Amen.