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Welcome to season 2 of the Determined to Dance podcast. I pray that you’ll be uplifted, encouraged, and will move forward each and every day. Today’s episode, Praying Like Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer, focuses on the most repeated prayer of Jesus, delivered during the Sermon on the Mount.
Show Notes: Praying Like Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer
Jesus delivered what many consider to be his most memorable teachings during the Sermon on the Mount. He sat on a mountainside and began his teaching with the Beatitudes, a series of eight blessings, and concluded with his thoughts on listening to and following His teachings. He compares someone who listens as wise and building a house on solid rock and those who don’t to someone who builds on sand. Matthew, chapters five through seven, are filled with wisdom and encouragement from Jesus.
He also spoke of prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is repeated in churches, on ball fields, in hospitals, in war zones, and everywhere in between. Only five verses long, the beautiful language is filled with nuggets of truth and is simple enough for a child to understand.
Here is the New King James Version:
“In this manner, therefore, 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 this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” Matthew 6: 9-13
Jesus is teaching the disciples, the crowd, and ultimately me and you, the model of prayer. What can we learn from these five verses?
- We pray to God, the Father, and recognize that His name is holy.
- We ask for the kingdom and His will to be established on earth as it already is in heaven.
- We ask for our daily needs.
- We ask for God to forgive our debts or sins, and we make sure to forgive people who sin against us or our family.
- We ask to be delivered from evil and not to be led into temptation.
- We praise and worship the Father, acknowledging everything is His and He deserves all glory.
- We end the prayer with the word amen or so be it.
Wow. Jesus showed us how to communicate with the Almighty God.
Basically, we recognize who we pray to, ask for His will, and our needs, to receive and offer forgiveness, and deliverance from evil, and end by praising the One who made all things. We put the prayer in our own words, fleshing out our understanding of God, our needs, and giving glory to Him.
It reminds me of dancing. We follow basic steps, but add who we are, our understanding, and make it our own. A wonderful analogy of the most important part of our day.
And if this wasn’t awesome enough, let’s look back to verse eight. “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” Father God already knows what we need. He could just go ahead and meet our needs with no conversation at all. But instead, He gives us the privilege of speaking to Him and listening for those gentle whispers of love.
Let’s pray: Father God, we recognize who you are, the Holy One, and ask for your kingdom to be displayed here on earth. Let your will and ways be done and please meet our needs every day. We love You and ask that you forgive our sins and help us to forgive others, for sometimes it is very hard. Don’t lead us into temptation and save us from evil. For you are marvelous and glorious and worthy of all praise. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.
I want this simple and profound prayer Jesus taught to be part of my prayer life. Don’t you?
Today’s featured author is Terri Wangard, the author of Roll Back the Clouds, a historical novel. Geoff and Rosaleen Bonnard sail aboard the fabled Lusitania. When a German submarine hurtles a torpedo into the grand ship, Rosaleen makes it into a lifeboat, but where is her husband? Rosaleen sinks into depression, haunted by the battered faces of dead babies. Her happy life seems out of reach. Learn more at http://www.terriwangard.com.
Next week, we’ll focus on praying when we’re tempted. Until then, stay determined to dance…
Links:
My debut novel, Jessie’s Hope
Remember: Praying Like Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer
Video of the week:
I absolutely love music and each week I’d like to share a relevant song we can enjoy together.
