The Lord's Prayerنموونە

Our Father in Heaven, Your will be done

Sometimes, we don’t know what to pray for. This can be because we have way too much to pray for; where do we begin? Or we can feel as if there’s nothing we want to bring to God. Or, maybe, we’re somewhere between those positions, yet still struggle to find the words. When you don’t know what to pray for, do you go back to what Jesus told us to pray for? ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ in Matthew 6 is not just a shopping list of pious statements that we buy into every now and then. This prayer Jesus gave to His followers is the model for us to base our own prayers upon.

Matthew 6:9 makes clear that Jesus provided what we now call the Lord’s Prayer so we would know how to pray. Beyond that, His exemplary prayer also reveals what to pray for. Look at where He starts: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’

One of the best things about The Lord’s Prayer Podcast is that each conversation with theologian and author David Höhne forces us to slow down and consider anew what Jesus prays. Take some time now to notice that, thanks to Jesus, we can personally address God as ‘Father’. That is something truly remarkable to pray about.

More than that, we are to pray for the will of God to define our earthly reality just as it shapes where God dwells. While you pray for that, be sure to also ‘hallow’ (honour, or revere) God the Father by properly revering Jesus as Lord God.

Written by BEN McEACHEN