The Lord's Prayer

Our Father
who art in heaven
hallowed be thy name

“…Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9 NIV)

   My definition of prayer: talking with God.  Talking “with” involves listening, so listening to God through the messages of the Bible are in a sense tied in with prayer.  Yet prayer always involves a person speaking to God.
   Jesus taught what is often termed “The Lord’s Prayer” as recorded in Matthew 6:9-13 and 
Luke 11:2-4.  This was not a formula for talking with God.  Rather it is a foundation which gives some basics for prayer.  For example, who should we address?  What should be our primary focus?
   Who do we address in prayer?  The Father!  All of us have or had an earthly father, yet this Father is in heaven; He is God.  How did God become our Father?  For those who believe in Jesus, they are adopted into the family of God, as it states in John 1:12.  Believers in Jesus are forgiven of sins and thus united with God in a relationship as intimate as father – son.  How incredible.
   Sometimes followers of Christ open a prayer addressing Jesus or the Holy Spirit.  This is a point of Christian dispute.  I think such is fine, because all three Persons of the Trinity are One.  Yet since Jesus gave His disciples this lesson, addressing the Father is always a good thing.
   Jesus taught the name of the Father is hallowed, which means holy.  When we pray to the Father, we are praying to God who is Holy!  This calls for reverence of the heart.
   Now I have known people who had abusive fathers, or criticizing fathers, or negligent fathers, or abandoning fathers.  And I have never known anyone who had a perfect father.  Yet this Father is perfect, as Jesus taught in Matthew 5:48.  So again, reverence is demanded.  Yet in addition, we know this Father is loving.  Thus you and I can come to our Father in heaven in a more intimate way than we would anyone else.  Wow.
   My church does not recite the Lord’s Prayer in worship.  Most churches I have ever been a member of did.  Saying it every week, a person can slide into saying it without meaning.  However, that need not be the case.  I say it often, sometimes when I am on a long walk, or sometimes alone in my room at my window, especially at dusk.  I want to always say it in sincerity.  Yet again, remember the purpose is not mandatory recital, rather to get us rolling with talking with God.
Hunter Irvine