So exactly how does a person talk to God? If a very important person, say in Washington D.C., summoned you for a visit and gave very clear instruction on how to talk to him or her, we would surely pay attention! Well this is exactly what Jesus did in this passage.
- Pray in private. It's not wrong to pray in public--in our worship services or at other public gatherings that may wish for prayer or God's blessing for meals or for asking God's help in any situation. However, public prayer must always be an extension of private prayer! If we are not in the habit of praying in private, it is hypocrisy to pray in public. And it's obvious that we should not make a big show of praying publicly so that people will think we're "spiritual." vv. 5-6
- Pray honestly and sincerely. Memorized prayers, repeated over and over soon lose any meaning for us and probably for God too! We can recite them without thinking. If we were to stand before that hypothetical important person from Washington, D.C., we would try to state our request as clearly and simply as possible. If we are depressed or frightened or anxious or frustrated or poor or sick or uncertain about a decision, or anything else, we should tell God exactly what's going on, and we should ask for His help. (Though He already knows, He's asked us to bring our requests to Him.) vv. 7-8 Also, along the line of praying honestly, if we tell someone we will pray for them, we must really do it! It's a rather common thing to hear on TV or see on facebook something like "Our prayer go out for them" or just "prayers." I do hope they really DO pray. Again, if we indicate that we'll pray, then we must pray! This can be done immediately after making the promise because God's ears are always open to us. It's also a good idea to keep a notebook or list of some sort rather than count on our unreliable memories.
- Model prayer. vv. 9-15 Jesus gives the disciples an example of how to pray. These are not especially the exact words we should pray, but it's a pattern for us to follow. Today I will deal only with the first 2 words: "Our Father" v. 9
- "Our" Father...As we go through this prayer, we notice that all the pronouns are plural. Not "my" Father, but "our" Father reminding us that God's family consists of all believers everywhere. It includes every individual who has trusted Christ as his or her Savior and by doing so has been born again into God's family. See John 1:12 and many other scriptures. If you are unsure as to whether or not you are truly born into God's family, please let me know, and we'll look at the scriptures together. And so as members of the "family," we would not ask anything of God that might hurt a brother or sister.
- "Our Father" Notice that the prayer focuses on God first, not on ourselves. There's plenty of time for us later!
- "Father" Since God is perfect, He is the perfect Father. Many of us had very good earthly fathers. I surely did. But not one of us had a perfect earthly father. But imagine for a minute all the good qualities a perfect earthly father would have. He would take care of His family; he would be loyal to them; he would be honest; he would be approachable; he would deny us things that were not good for us; he would wish for us to succeed. I'm sure you can think of many more qualities of a "perfect father." Well, God is all that we can imagine and more! We are blessed children indeed.
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