The Lord's Prayer

Matthew 6 vs 9 to13

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I often pray the Lord's Prayer the "Our Father, but then I ask myself:

• Do you really know who this father is?

• Do you know whose father this is?

• Do you know where this father is?

I must honestly and truly admit that there are times when I don’t realise that the father in this wonderful prayer is Our Heavenly Father [mine and your father]. Oh and there are times ... times... too many to mention... when I carry on as if I don’t know Him. Has that ever happened to you? It’s happened to me a number of times. Here are two of those occasions. The one was, when I yelled and screamed at the kids when they didn’t do their chores. The other was, when I threw my toys out of the cot when I didn’t get my own way!

Very often I toy with the question in my mind over and over again: “Why do you do this to yourself? My answer to this is almost always the same. I think it’s just because I’m weak and I am a sinner just like everyone else.

Now when I think back and meditate on this prayer, I understand the meaning of the “Our Father” more clearly. I can definitely admit [right now, right here] that He is our father because he made us, loves us and protects us. He [our heavenly father] gives us everything in his good time. And when we do wrong things, he is a blameless father who loves us unconditionally. He doesn’t hold us to ransom about anything. All he is asking us to do is... hold out our hands to Him.

And because of this, we need to acknowledge that he is our God and that we love him. We, as his children, need to pay homage to him. We need to magnify his name and praise him. We need to thank him for all the good he’s done for us. We need to tell him that we are nothing without him. We need to confess to him that we are weak and that we cannot survive without having a close relationship with Him. We need to tell him that we understand that in heaven the angels obey and respect Him. We need to try our level best to be just like those angels. Our hearts need to burn with fire for His word like those angels. We need to ask Him to be the ruler of our hearts here on earth.  We need to ask Him to let his kingdom reign in our lives.

We need to thank Him for our daily bread – the bread he gives us for the nourishment of our soul and body. We need to understand that this daily bread cannot be given to us without prayer. We need to ask him to forgive our sins in the same way as he forgives the sins of those who have hurt or wronged us. We need to ask him to deliver us from difficulties, but also to let our trials make us strong and better people. We need to tell him that we are satisfied with whatever he has planned for us in this life time.

Prayer: Father God, thank you for being OUR FATHER, for loving and protecting us. Help us to acknowledge that we love you and that you are our God. Let us confess that we are sinners and that we need you in our lives. Let us not forget to pray for all our daily needs. Help us to forgive those who hurt us and let our trials not dictate the way we live but let the problems in our lives make us strong and courageous. Amen

Be Blessed,

Cheryl