The theme "Our Father... “means that we first acknowledge to God who He is to us and what that means.
God's first priority in our prayer times is not that we get a job done or pray through our prayer list. God's first desire is that we enjoy an intimate relationship with him by basking in who he is to us and what that means.
Our very strong tendency in prayer is to begin with problems and needs. We will have to exercise great self-discipline on our impulses if we are to follow what Jesus taught about prayer.
Assurance of God's love is the foundation of the prayer of faith. If we do not believe that God loves us we cannot pray in faith, and God only promises to answer the prayer of faith.
We naturally lack assurance of God's unconditional love. But those who confess that love regularly will also experience a joyful assurance of it.
The Fatherhood of God means that he loves us and has authority over us. It also means that he actively cares for, protects, trains, and disciplines us.
Not everyone can have assurance that God is his or her Father. The Bible puts it this way, "Yet to all who receive him (Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God" (NIV John 1:12).
If we are to pray the Lord’s. Prayer we will also have to pray "Our Father" and not just "My Father". When we do this we expand prayer beyond thinking only of ourselves. We begin to acknowledge that other Christian are deeply loved and are important to God.
The first proof of a good prayer life is not whether we are seeing answers to prayer, but whether we are enjoying friendship with God.
"...in heaven..,"
When we pray "in heaven" we are acknowledging to God His sovereignty and perfections.
Jesus teaches us that worship has a priority in prayer greater than missions or our necessary food. If the Lord's Prayer is taken seriously Christians will spend as much time adoring God as they do praying about needs or problems. Because Jesus teaches us to do so we will, again, need to restrain our impulse to rush past adoration to problems.
We cannot pray in faith if we do not hold up the perfections of God for adoration. Thoseld.
Part 2- Excercise 1:
Try to write out a brief prayer under each phrase of the Lord’s Prayer,with special attention to "Our Father".
Our Father...
...in heaven...
...hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come...
...your will be done...
Give us this day our daily bread.....
...and forgive us... as we forgive those who sin against us
And lead us not into temptation...
...but deliver us from evil.
Part 2- Exercise 2:
Try to write out a brief prayer under each phrase of the Lord’s Prayer, spending moretime on "in heaven".
Our Father...
...in heaven...
...hallowed be your name...
Your kingdom come...
...your will be done...
Give us this day our daily bread...
...and forgive us...as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation...
...but deliver us from evil
Part 2- Exercise 3:
Try to write out a brief prayer under each phrase of the Lord's Prayer,
spending more time on "Our Father" and "in heaven"
Our Father...
...in Heaven...
...hallowed be your name.
Your kingdome come
...Your will be done...
Give us this day our daily bread...
...and forgive us...as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation...
...but deliver us from evil.
who practice adoration know that it is the most soul-sustaining, faith sustaining thing in the world.
