How We Pray "The LORD’s Prayer"

Week One

Monday

"OUR FATHER . . . " Exodus 20:2-8

The New Testament gospels tell us that Jesus often went off by himself to pray. One day the disciples asked him to teach them how to pray. He then gave them what we know today as the Lord’s Prayer. We also pray this prayer because Jesus taught it to his disciples -- and thus to all believers and the church. We can pray this way because God has promised to be our God. It comes to us from the First Commandment: "I am the Lord your God, . . .you shall have no other gods before Me." God wants to be our God so that we will call upon God at all times and in all circumstances. God is ours to approach as easily as we would our earthly parents.

Tuesday

OUR "FATHER . . . " Matthew 23:9

Martin Luther writes in his explanation to the Lord’ Prayer (Small Catechism), "Here God encourages us to believe that God is truly our Father and that we are his children." In saying our Father, we are reminded that we are members of God’s family, the Church, and that we all pray with and for each other. God is really the Father of all people on earth, and God wants us to claim one another as brothers and sisters in God’s great family. We can also call God Father because God dwells with us. God dwells with us in the scripture and in the sacraments, and through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Wednesday

"WHO ART IN HEAVEN . . ." Genesis 1:1-5

We believe that God is our creator. The Bible begins with that thesis. God is the force and power behind our lives. Modern science is in a thrilling search for the physical forces that govern our universe. Our belief is that behind those physical forces is the ultimate energizing power (spiritual force) which is God. God not only created, but governs the universe. That God is more than simply an impersonal power or law, but a personal, caring being who loves us like a parent. This is how Jesus knew God, his heavenly Father. This phrase in the Lord’s Prayer tells us that God is outside our physical realm of existence.

Thursday

". . . IN HEAVEN" John 14:1-4

Where is God? There is no precise answer to that question. In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus taught that God is "in heaven." This phrase, "in heaven," is a difficult one. Some biblical scholars say the phrase can be translated, "Our Father the Heavenly One." That is: the One who is totally different; the One who is beyond our physical realm; the One who is in ultimate control. It is thought that Jesus meant a realm of rule, rather than a location. Heaven is wherever God’s rule and reign is real. It is now, and will be, a household of total peace and harmony. The eternal "dwelling" place is yet to be experienced. It is God’s promise, our hope.

Friday

"HALLOWED BE THY NAME" Deuteronomy 5:6,7,11

This is know as the First Petition (request) of the Lord’s Prayer. The phrase, "Our Father who art in Heaven" is the introduction. These go together just like the first two commandments. In the commandments, after promising to be our God, God commands us to use his name rightly.

Today the word "hallowed" isn’t a common word in our language. In the Greek language (the original Language of the New Testament) it means "to set something, or someone, apart as special, worthy of the highest honor." This part of the Lord’s Prayer reminds us to Hold God’s name in the highest reverenge in our speaking.

Saturday

"HALLOWED BE . . ." Leviticus 19:1-4, 12

The implication of the second commandment and this petition is that we should so honor and respect God that we won’t use the name "God" loosely, flippantly, or in a vain way. Our language, the words we use, is surely an indication of where our hearts are. Perhaps for some it unfortunately becomes a thoughtless habit to include God’s name in everyday conversation. In far too many instances the only time God’s name is used is to blast someone with profanity in anger, or to vent frustration.