Matthew 6:7-13, the Lord’s prayer

Our Father

• It’s important to know the God who we’re praying too, ‘Our Father’ someone we can have a close personal relationship with.
• Jesus flipped he’s audience’s thoughts on prayer, he showed that it’s not about the specific words or how often we pray, it’s all about coming to Jesus, our father.

Our Father in heaven

• He’s not only good – he’s also great and there’s no limitations to what God can do.
• It can be a challenge to see both aspects of God when we pray, the God who is our close personal father and also a God of immense power.

The structure of the Lord’s Prayer is important

• Hallowed be your name – remind ourselves of the glory of God.
• Your kingdom come – praying for Heaven come to earth, healings and miracles etc.
• Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven – placing God’s priorities higher than our own ours, let it be about God’s way, not our way.

The prayer then goes from focusing on who God is to being about our needs:

Give us this day our daily bread

• Bread is a symbol of everyday necessities and it’s about relying on him for our daily needs.
• Are we coming to God with our needs? And if we are, are we leaving them with him or do we hold onto them?
• This is an ongoing, day to day dependency on God.

Forgive us our debts

• We all have regrets and this prayer is indispensable to our soul, as God alone forgives sin (Mark 2:10).
• And the more we understand about God’s Grace, the more it will help us to forgive others.

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil

• The devil is the father of lies and we need to be asking God to help us so that our minds don’t believe the lies of the enemy.
• Jesus is truth and he overcame and defeated the devil and his lies.

This pray covers our human, spiritual and moral needs