333 Part II

Jesus's prayer was dynamic and powerful. When Jesus comes out of prayer, He walks out with authority, glowing with the presence of God. How does He do it?

Matthew 6:9-13
This, then, is how you should 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 today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

The Lord's prayer isn't a chant. We don't babble when we pray. The Lord's prayer is a guideline, a model for our prayer, headings for the things we have to pray about.
It corrects our priorities and independence of God.

1)Set the tone of prayer.
"Our Father in heaven"
God is our Father, the perfect father you could ever dream of. By addressing our God as our heavenly father, we set the tone as an intimate and loving one. Also, the term "father" connotes respect. That's why when we go to God, we go also with an attitude of reverence.

2)Priority of prayer.
"your kingdom come,your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
We have to honour God first, even in our prayer.
When pray this prayer, you are telling God that you want to see Him magnified in every aspect of your life. When you honour God above all things, you will want to do the will of God. You will have the attitude of submission, obeying the moment you hear God speak.
1 Samuel 2:30
Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.

3)Dependence on God in prayer.
"Give us today our daily bread."
We need to depend on God for many things. Other than food, we have to rely on God for wisdom, knowledge, strength, love and forgiveness.

There are two kinds of forgiveness: The first is the forgiveness you receive when you first received Christ. This is the type of forgiveness mentioned in Romans 8:1.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

The second is daily forgiveness from God. It is similar to the forgiveness of a child from a parent. When a child does something wrong, E.g he broke an expensive Ming vase, there is tension in the relationship between the parent and the child. The parent would not, however, disown the child no matter how big the vase is, or how many pieces it shatters into. The reason of seeking daily forgiveness from God is the same as why a child should seek forgiveness from his father, to release the tension in the relationship. Also, you want to deal with sin when it's still small and nip it in the bud.
So we should pray to God to show us what we've done that isn't pleasing to Him so that we can seek His forgiveness.

"as we also have forgiven our debtors."
We need to forgive people who have wronged us. We don't want to hold unforgiveness in our lives because it ties you down,it smothers you, it can kill you. Forgive people, even if they owe you an apology.

4)Daily protection
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
We are Christians, but that does not make us immune to temptations. We should be humble and pray that God would carry us away from temptation.

If we pray like Jesus, then we'll be able to be more like Him.
Challenge for 54 days: Before you pray, meditate on one of the verses that speaks of God's love relationship with us.