Jesus taught his disciples how to pray
Matthew 6:9-13: Luke 11:2-4
This is often called the 'Lord’s Prayer' although this is not a prayer that Jesus prayed or he would need to pray. This is a prayer that He taught the disciples to pray. Jesus dos not need forgiveness from sins as we humans do. It is more appropriate to call John 17 the Lord's prayer, the high priestly prayer. It is the longest prayer Jesus prayed recorded in the Bible.
In some circles of Christianity The Lord's prayer is also known as 'Our Father Prayer', There are two versions of the Lord’s Prayer; one in Luke 11, and the more familiar one in Matthew 6. I don’t think that one is dependent upon the other. You can read the commentaries and they all debate that. A simpler explanation is that Jesus, like any itinerant preacher, would have used the same material many times in many different ways just as preachers preach the same sermon at different occasions. The words and style may change a little from place to place. It seems that the prayer given in Luke and the one in Matthew are very similar, but they are not exact.
Jesus did not teach them how long their prayers should be or at what time of the day they should pray, or how many times a day they should pray, or what they should feel while they are praying, or whether they should be standing or sitting or kneeling, or if they should close their eyes and fold their hands. Closing the eyes is considered to help in concentrating on God, but it can also make your thoughts wander around. It definitely helps in keeping us from seeing distractions around us.
Jesus taught a prayer that is sweet, short and to the point. On November 19, 1863, two well-known men gave speeches at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The featured speaker, Edward Everett, was a former congressman, governor, and president of Harvard University. Considered one of the greatest orators of his day, Mr. Everett delivered a formal address lasting 2 hours. He was followed by President Abraham Lincoln, whose speech lasted 2 minutes. Today, Lincoln’s speech, the Gettysburg Address, is widely known and quoted, while Everett’s words have almost been forgotten. One of the greatest speeches in American history, it was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,. "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty,....and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." It is not just Lincoln’s eloquent brevity that accounts for this. On that occasion, his words touched the wounded spirit of a nation fractured by civil war, offering hope for the days to come. Words do not have to be many to be meaningful.
Jesus said, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” (Matthew 6:7). Jesus was concerned with what and how they prayed more as important than when or where or how long they prayed. Jesus wants to make sure they are praying for the right reasons, from the right heart.
The Prayer Jesus taught has two main parts - one that acknowledges who God is and His majesty. The other part acknowledges who we are are our needs are. Thefirst part praises God for who He is and thanks Him for what He does for us. The second part acknowledges who we are, and how much we need Him in our lives.
The prayer starts with addressing God as "Our Father". It is a personal relationship just like a father and child. We can approach God the Father directly. We do not need an intermediary other than the Spirit of God and the Son of God who are part of the Triune God. You don't have to pray to a saint or a prophet.
When John F. Kennedy was President of the United States, Life magazine published photos of his children, John Jr. and Caroline, playing with their toys on the floor of the Oval Office. Those images captured the hearts of the American people like nothing before or since. I think it’s because it bridged a gap between two thoughts: Kennedy was the President of the United States, but he was also a father. He held ultimate political power in the Free World, but playing at his feet were two little kids who called him daddy. Father is a term of intimacy. Prayer is where one talks from the heart to the heart of God.
This was a new concept in Jewish teaching at that time. They believed that God’s name could not be spoken by anyone other than the anointed priests. David Jeremiah writes in 'Prayer, the Great Adventure': "The writers of the Old Testament had a much different concept of their relationship to God than we do today. When the scribes who copied the Old Testament scriptures wrote the word for God, Yahweh, they would throw away their pen, never to use it again. They reasoned that once it had written the word, Yahweh, the pen was disqualified to write anything else."
Unlike human fathers, our Heavenly Father is eternal and is from generation to generation. Our relationship as children of God is positional and not generational. It is not like the human relationships where we have children who in turn become fathers and grandfathers. God does not have grand children. The relationship as the Son of God is the same way. It is positional and not generational. He is the Son of God, who became man so that whoever believes in Him will be called a child of God. That means that we all become brothers and sisters with Jesus when we call God, "Our Father." Our earthly fathers can die and can pass on, but the heavenly Father is eternal. You can trust on Him to be always there.
When we pray "Our Father", we are acknowledging the privileged identity we have as children of God in approaching God. In personality analysis, there is something called an identity wheel. It is a pie chart or a wheel, depicting the importance we place on our social identities. Once you complete the wheel, you can look at how gender, race, socioeconomic status, education, religion, country of origin, age, family structure, and physical ability shape and define who you consider yoursself to be. Eventhough we all look different, in structue, color, race and geography, we are all children of God. As Paul says, we may live in a reality of being Jew or Gentile, male or female. But we should act as God’s children all the time, under all circumstances, no matter what our social identities are. We can clothe ourselves with Christ through the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that our way of living, our thoughts, our decisions, and our actions demonstrate our identity as children of God.
Then we acknowledge the divinity and holiness of God by praying, "hallowed be thy name." meaning "may your name be honored as Holy." Though your are my Father, you are holy You are the Father of all creations. We are all your children you take care of. You are Holy God, and I am a sinner who does not even deserve to be calling you Father. Yet I come before you with thanksgiving because you gave me the privilege to be your child. The acknowledgement of God’s holiness determines how we approach Him. We approach God with reverence and humility. Acknowledging God as our Father and accepting His holiness is the first to step of a prayer. "Anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)
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