Bible Study - Matthew 6:9-15
- Read Matthew 6:9-15
- The Our Father is for many people the essence of prayer. I find it
helpful to pray this very familiar prayer as an act of trust and an act
of the will. That was the way Jesus lived his life - trusting God and
being determined to do his will. Here is an example of how we might
paraphrase each part of it. The words here are the modern translation
we use in church.
- Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name:
- You are our heavenly Father, therefore I will honour you, and give
first obedience to you.
- Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in
heaven:
- Lord, we really want you to be king in our lives, and we pray for
more and more people to acknowledge you as king in their lives - to
worship you as you are worshipped in heaven.
- Give us today our daily bread:
- You are a God who provides for our physical needs. Help us to avoid
the greed that denies help for another person's need.
- Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against
us:
- When I find it hard to forgive another person, Lord, help me to
remember how much you have forgiven me. Give me the will to
forgive.
- Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
- Lord, I do not believe that life will always be easy, but I trust
in your strength to bring me through the difficult times.
- For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and for
ever. Amen.
- I pray all this, because, in the end, you are indeed Lord of all in
eternity.
- To think about
- Can I identify times when I am not working for God and his kingdom,
and can I allow God to bring me into line with his loving will?
- Can I identify times in the life of Jesus when he exem-plified each
of the sections above?
- Prayer
- Pray the Lord's Prayer slowly, line by line, as though it was
the first time in your life you had come across it, and let each part
come alive in a new way.