The Lord's Prayer

Brenden Ashby
07/03/22 - Sun AM

Prayer is as essential to being a Christian as breathing is for life. And yet, prayer does not come easy. Hence, the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk. 11:1). It is no surprise then that the Lord would include instructions about how disciples should pray in the Sermon on the Mount.

We should first note and marvel that prayer is possible: That the great Creator of all there is, Lord of heaven and earth, The Lord God Almighty, our God, wants us to pray to Him. We should marvel that God wants to converse with His creation. The fact that Jesus says, “when you pray…” (Matt. 6:5) implies that prayer is possible and that Jesus expected His disciples would pray. How did Jesus teach us to pray?

First, He taught that our prayers should be humble and earnest. We pray to be seen by God, not men (Matt. 6:5-6), and our prayers should be ones of substance (Matt. 6:7).

Secondly, Jesus taught that our prayers need to be heaven focused. When we begin in prayer, we should be reminded of God’s glory, and we should seek to align our wills with His (Matt. 6:9-10).

 Third, Jesus taught that in our prayers, we could and should ask for our physical and spiritual needs (Matt. 6:11-13). No request is too small for God.

Jesus showed us that prayer does not need to be complex or lofty. Prayer should be an earnest conversation between a creature and its Creator.