The Lord’s Prayer

What did Jesus teach us when he taught us to pray the Our Father? He said to them,

“When you pray, say: “Our Father”, Jesus taught us to address God as a Father. He knew that the Jews calling God as Father, was in the sense of they being created by Him. But God had always considered us His Children, and wanted us to truly get involved with Him as human children do with their earthly parents. We need help in coming to understand and appreciate this. This is not just a title given to God, it is a relationship defined, which helps us see hope for ourselves, and can be termed as a humble and exultant statement, when we realise God as our parent and therefore our hope, ‘Our/My Father…‘.

“Hallowed be your name”, We worship a living God. God, our Father is the only God, therefore the truth. When we say “Hallowed be thy name”, what we are really telling God is that we promise to give glory to Him through the testimony of our words and actions. We tell him that giving Glory to Him and aligning our lives to who who He Is, and this is more important to us than to live a life that feeds our egos.

“Your Kingdom come, your will be done as in heaven, so on earth”, When we have placed God above all, in our lives, it is only right that we should desire the same joy and peace we experience as a child of God, for all those we love and the Lord brings into our lives. As we wait for the fullness of Christ, we must enthrone Him in our hearts as the Lord of our lives and work in His vineyard to help others also to build a throne for God in their hearts, through our testimony and evangelisation.

“Give us this day our daily bread”, Jesus is very beautifully inviting us to a life off dependency on God and to be truly content knowing that God is your provider and who provides us with everything we need. When Jesus uses the word “daily bread”, He is not just referring to the daily manna that was provided by God in the wilderness to the Israelites but he is inviting us to live a life of complete trust on Him, in this life, knowing as Father, He will provide for us. Jesus wants us to seek the Kingdom of God and the rest i.e. our daily needs will be taken care of by God.

“Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us”. We are not perfect but as we strive to be perfect like our heavenly Father. If we who are not perfect, yet call ourselves as sons and daughters of God, what right does it give us to judge others or keep a track of their failings? A child is always told that he looks or behaves like the parent. If we are children of God who shows mercy to everyone, then how can we not reflect that in our relationship with everyone around us?

“Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil”. God is good. He will not lead us into temptation. What Jesus is teaching us here is that we ask God not only to deliver us but help us to discern and to give us spiritual sight to identify situations and choices that will lead us away from God’.

Fellow pilgrims, when we pray the Lords Prayer, let us keep in mind what Jesus intended when he taught us how to pray. May the words of the Lords prayer become a reality in our lives. Amen.