Our Father
“This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father…” Matthew 6:9
If you use the computer often then you are most likely familiar with pull-down menus, such that, when you touch one item, a whole series of possibilities opens up before you.
The Lord’s Prayer is just like that. Each phrase opens powerful vistas of spiritual insight and potential.
The background to the Lord’s Prayer, Luke 11 tells us that in the months the disciples had walked with Jesus they had often heard him pray, and they were deeply impressed by the fact that his prayers were so different from those of the Pharisees. When Jesus prayed, His prayers were warm, intimate, and personal; but when the Pharisees prayed, their prayers were cold and impersonal and this prompted them to come to Him with the request: “Lord, teach us to pray…”
In response, Jesus said, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the Kingdom, and the Power and the Glory forever!'”
At least 75 times Jesus used the term “my”, often saying, “my Father.” But in praying “our,” Jesus reminds us that God is the Father of all who have come to peace with God through his blood shed on the cross. When we pray “our,” we step into fellowship with the disciples who walked with Jesus. We worship in the spirit and fellowship of brothers and sisters meeting all over the world and with the redeemed of all ages who have prayed that same prayer just as we do. It is a privilege and always a delight to call him – Our Father.