Learn to pray brother…Not the repetitive, mumbling hail marys or other stuff but pray…The Lords prayer is the pattern on how to pray and not to keep repeating it…
I read it awhile back and one thing that I remembered was the part where “give us this day our daily bread”…It was pointed that we just need to ask the things that we need for our daily survival…It does not ask for yesterdays bread or tomorrows bread but our daily bread…We cannot handle the burden of the past and the future…Leave it to God…
This is something I found close to what I read on the pattern of praying…Hope it sheds some light and give you some peace…
So Jesus gives us a pattern to bring balance to our praying.
The Structure of this prayer
Let me give us a fast overview of the pattern of this prayer. A bird’s eye view will give us a chance to see what the whole prayer looks like.
First, it begins and ends with praise to God. There are 68 words in this prayer. 37 of them are words of praise to God. That is 54%
There are 31 words that are petitions for ourselves. 46% of the prayer.
Immediately that speaks volumes to me. At least half of our praying should be giving, not getting; praising not petitioning; adoring, not asking.
But let me clear up a point of confusion here. Remember: there is no power in praise. We do not praise God to butter him up so we can then hit him up for what we want. We do not praise him so that we can pry more things out of him. That would be flattery and corruption. There is no power, no leverage, no manipulation brought about by praise. Insincere flattery is not praise it is presumption, the presumption that we can con God into giving us more than his wisdom and goodness would grant.
There is no power in praise, but the praise of God is what those bring to God who have seen God’s goodness and greatness and come with adoration and affection and thanksgiving. Praise is best that flows from love. All great praying begins and ends with the praise of God.
Does that make God vain? Conceited? Oh no! The praise of God may very well be intended by him to help redeem us from self-preoccupation, and self-adulation.
The Content of this Prayer.
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our dally bread
And forgive us our debts/ trespasses/sins
As we forgive our debtors/ those who trespasses/sin against us
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil/evil one
For yours is the Kingdom
And the Power and the Glory forever, Amen.
(Matt 6:7-13, Luke 11:2-4, & Church Tradition)
The first lines begin with the reminder of the One to whom we pray. I would draw our attention to three items in the very first line.
His name is Father. (God’s best name!)
He is the Father who is in Heaven. (that is, it is God who is our father!)
He is “OUR” Father.
That is prime reality in this first line. He is not “MY” father. He is ours. And notice the ongoing litany: “Give US our bread…Forgive US our debts…Lead US not, deliver US from evil.” This prayer has no place for selfishness. If you come alone, please don’t come! If you come with others on your heart, by all means come boldly to the throne of Grace and find help.
This prayer has 6 petitions all together. It is interesting to see how they are divided.
The first three requests are concerned with the praise of God. They are prayers that I am to help fulfill. They are prayers that the church and world are intended to fulfill.
Hallowed be your name
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
The last three requests are concerned with the needs of the human family. They are prayers that we are asking God to fulfill
We ask for bread,
for forgiveness, and
for safety.
But notice these three more closely.
The request for bread is a present tense concern.
The request for forgiveness is asking God to deal with our past.
The request for safety is a concern for the future.
That says to me that as I pray, the past, the present and the future of my life is to be brought before God. Nothing needs to be left out.
But I also notice that only one of these requests deal with the needs of my body, while two of these requests deal with my spiritual needs. It is interesting that the needs that are so paramount in our culture are only a minor part of this pattern for our praying.
I stand with feet apart and let my balls hang free...Manginas dont have balls...See how they stand and sit at the whim of their masters...
MonkSimon 1 year, 9 months ago.
You must own a better Crystal ball than I
