Lord’s prayer

The power of words

Prayer is more than just a religious act or ritual. Prayer is a dialogue with God. As God speaks through the Bible, it is also a response to it. It is prayer to spend time with God. It will be a time of strong communication. I think it has some similarities to conversations with couples, parents and children, brothers, sisters and friends.

5 And when praying, do not be like hypocrites. They like to stand on the four corners of synagogues and streets and pray because they want to be seen by others. Indeed, I tell you. They have already received their rewards. 6 When you pray, enter your inner room. Then close the door and pray to your father in the hiding place. Then your father, who is looking in the hiding place, will reward you. 7 Also, when praying, do not just repeat the same words like Gentiles. They think they will be asked if there are many words. 8 So don’t imitate them. For God the Father knows what you need before you ask.

9 So pray like this. “Our father in heaven. May your name be praised. 10 May your kingdom come. May the will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Please give us our daily food today. 12 Please forgive our burden. We also forgave those who owe us. 13 Don’t let us see the trial, save us from evil. [The country, power, and prosperity are yours forever. Armen] (Bible Matthew 6: 5-13)

The “Lord’s Prayer” above is a model prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to ” pray like this .” This prayer is not a hypocrite prayer, a performance prayer to show to others. The Jews had a habit of praying on the street three times a day (9 am, noon, 3 pm), but the hypocrites prayed to show people their piety. .. Also, the Lord’s Prayer is different from the Gentile prayer. In other words, it is not a mechanical and forcible prayer with a lot of words. Forcible and enthusiastic are different. Gentile prayers were god-threatening prayers. We are taught how to pray specifically, not like them, but pray this way. God knows our needs. If we do not know the Lord’s Prayer, in some cases the prayer may become a prayer that appeals to our needs. Then we will not be able to go to the depths of prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer taught by the Lord, so if we pray with this as an outline, we will certainly offer the prayer that Jesus desires, the prayer that is in the will of God the Father, and the prayer that the Holy Spirit leads. Of course, free prayer is also wonderful. But the good thing about the Lord’s Prayer is that after we pray, we can be confident that we have prayed for the will of the Lord, and we will be given the peace that the prayer has reached God. The Lord’s Prayer begins with a call to God, “Father,” which is the beginning of the whole prayer.

First , call out, ” Our father in heaven. ” The object of our prayer is God the Father. Thank you for calling the great God who created all things heaven and earth “Dad”. We can call God a close “father” because our sins are forgiven by the cross of Jesus Christ and we are made children of God. All of you are children of God by faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26).

Also, with the help of the Holy Spirit, God can be called “Abba, Father.” Anyone who is guided by the Spirit of God is a child of God. You did not receive the spirit of slavery, which would terrorize you again, but the Spirit of childhood. We call it “Abba, Father” by the Spirit. The Spirit himself, along with our spirit, testifies that we are children of God (Romans 8: 14-16).

We start praying by praising the Trinity God. This call is a confession of faith in love and trust that “God is my father and I am the Son and Daughter of God.” Before actually praying through this call, we can confirm that my relationship with God is not formal, but a lively relationship of life. Then the prayer will naturally become more lively.

I would also like to note that this call is “our father,” not my father. Jesus emphasizes that he is not the Father God of only one disciple, but the Father God of his disciples. Of course God is my personal father, but at the same time our father. God is the father of the community, the father of the church. Therefore, the Lord’s Prayer can be said to be the prayer of the church community.

I think it’s good when the first voice of prayer says, “Lord, give me this. Do that.” .. Jesus is a teacher and we are students. The prayer taught by the teacher, Jesus, is the “Lord’s Prayer.” After calling out, “Heavenly Father,” first pray for God’s need, not for ourselves. Prayer basically prays to God the Father in the name of Jesus with the help of the Holy Spirit. Let’s take a look at the content of the prayer.

“ Hallowed be thy name ” we pray to be praised the name of Jesus Christ in the world, in Japan and around us. Unfortunately, the name of God is defiled. God is sad about that. So we should be sad too. We should also feel angry. Because the devil is working behind it. We pray that Jesus’ name will be honored through us, through our family and through the church to which we belong.

” May the kingdom come ” What is the kingdom? The kingdom is “God’s rule.” With the arrival of Jesus, the kingdom of God has certainly come to this earth. But the perfect kingdom of God will come by the Second Coming of Jesus. Now it’s in the middle. There are many places and territories that are beyond the control of God. The devil and evil spirits rule the land in various ways. We pray that the world and Japan have God’s rule and intervention around us. We pray that the kingdom of the devil will collapse, the rule of the devil will be shattered, and the kingdom of God will be established in its place. This is a spiritual battle prayer.

May the kingdom (filling of the Holy Spirit, revival) come to me personally, and the kingdom (health, salvation, healing, recovery, various blessings) to my family, the kingdom (salvation, healing, liberation, unity, growth, maturity, fruitfulness) to the church.

” May the will be done on earth as it is in heaven. ” We pray that God’s will and plan go to the lives of me and my family, to the church and to the region, to Japan and the world. Jesus said in Gethsemane, ” Abba, Father. There is nothing you can’t do. Please take this cup away from me, but do what you want, not what I want. (Mark 14:36)” Please help us to obey the will of God, not our own wishes, as we prayed. It is important to pray in this order. As a result, we will be able to experience the answers to our prayers. As promised, ” Seek the kingdom of God and its righteousness first and foremost, and in addition all these things will be given ” (Matthew 6:33). “Lord’s Prayer” is not a self-centered prayer, but a God-centered prayer.

American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr prayed:

Oh God. Give us the courage to change what can be changed. For things that cannot be changed, give them the calmness to accept them. And give them the wisdom to distinguish between what can be changed and what cannot be changed.

This is the first half of the Lord’s Prayer, and the theme was God’s need. From here on, the second half of the Lord’s Prayer will be the theme of our needs. It deals with issues related to the daily lives of those who await the kingdom.

” Give us our daily food today. ” We pray that we will meet our financial needs. I think there is an economic battle except for some people. This is a huge part of life. Humans are spiritual beings, but we also have bodies, we need food, drinks, clothing, and a place to live. It is a so-called clothing, food and housing. In a sense, humans are working for this. God is the one who also considers the needs of the body. God, who nourished the Israelites day by day with manna from heaven, also nourishes us day by day.

But Jesus taught us that we should not start prayer, or even life, from here. He told us to put the kingdom of God first. The kingdom of God is God himself, praying for God’s needs, and gathering in church every Sunday to worship God. The week starts on Sunday. We worship God, rest in God, and work for six days. We pray for the blessings of our work, our family economy, and our church economy. Make a donation at the beginning of the week to meet the needs of God and the Church, and work for ourselves. If this order goes wrong, the gears of Christian life will go wrong.

I pray that God gives us the living Word of God, which is not only the food for the body but also the food for the mind and spirit (in some cases, we may read the Bible here). Jesus said. ” People do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of God’s mouth ” (Matthew 4: 4). This word is what Jesus said to the devil. In response to the temptation of the devil, Jesus proclaimed the words of the Bible that he had stored and was victorious.

We also live in the wilderness of this world. Naturally there is a temptation from the devil. If we trust ourselves at that time, we will often be defeated. Because humans are sinful and vulnerable. Our example is Jesus. We can win by accumulating the words of the Bible like Jesus and applying the Word to our daily life.

” Please forgive our sins. We also forgave those who owed us. ” Repentance and forgiveness. First is repentance. Jesus said. ” First remove the beam from your own eyes, and you will be able to see clearly and remove the dust from your brother’s eyes. ” (Matthew 7: 5) Then forgiveness. We pray that our heart will be protected. Hatred destroys people. Hatred distorts human personality and character. We pray for the protection of relationships and the provision of peace so that our hearts can be released and we can walk in reconciliation with God and people (Matthew 6: 14,15).

Peace is given to the heart through repentance and forgiveness. Hatred makes us sick. When the mind gets sick, the body gets sick. Because the mind and body are connected. Through repentance and forgiveness, health is given to the mind and body. That is God’s will for us.

” Don’t let us see the trials, save us from evil. ” We pray that God protect us from various evils, from temptations, from illnesses, from devilish attacks, from wrong decisions, from troubles, and rescue the people of the church who are our family.

And finally, we conclude our prayer by returning all glory to God, saying , “The country, power, and prosperity belong to you forever. Amen. “

The Lord’s Prayer teaches us to pray for the kingdom of God first, that is, to pray for God’s needs first, and then for our own needs. Then God will fulfill our needs abundantly. When this prayer is prayed as a hidden prayer, God the Father, who is seen in the hidden place, rewards us. Let’s pray with the “Lord’s Prayer” as an outline. If we apply the Lord’s Prayer to our situation every day, we will be able to pray deeper. Then we will be able to experience the work of the Lord and will be able to worship the name of the Lord more and more. That’s how a good spiral is born.