Matthew 6:9-13
Verse 9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name,…”
To begin our journey into a deeper prayer life we need to start the conversation. When the disciples asked Jesus how they should pray, Jesus told them to start by calling God Father and acknowledging His holiness. He was making a great point which we need to think about as we becoming people of prayer. As Christians, God is our Father, the head of our faith and we are His children. Our calling Him Father reminds us we aren’t the ones in charge.
Besides remembering He is our Father and the One in charge, we need to remember His holiness. Because of His holiness we need to remember we have no right to come to Him except because of our position with Jesus. We can’t go into a humble conversation with the Father if we are not aware of how undeserving we are to be there in the first place. We aren’t holy.
When we have conversations with our friends we come to the chat with an understanding of what our part of the conversation is. We know the role we play in the relationship and we don’t even have to think about what it means for our conversations. When it comes to our prayer life we need to know our role too. We can’t come into the conversation thinking we are going to tell Him what to do, that isn’t our place. We need to ask Him with the understanding He doesn’t owe us anything.
Though we can never be perfect He does call us to be holy because He is holy. It says in more than one place in Scripture that He listens to the prayers of the righteous and so we need to check our heart when coming to Him. If we are not living a pure life we shouldn’t think He wants to hear our prayers. Just as conversations are hard when we have wronged the one we are talking to, sin in our life will cause disruptions in our communication with the Lord.
Choosing to view God for who He is will help us direct our prayers to Him. We will find ourselves confessing the sin in our lives, asking Him to forgive us and learning to share with Him the concerns of our hearts. We will also learn to give Him the praise He deserves because we will start seeing the various ways He is always there for us. We will see His holiness and be in awe of who He is.
Making It Personal
What does it mean to you that He is your Father? How has knowledge of His holiness changed how you pray? Have you noticed how sin in your life affects your prayer life?
Making It Personal Kids
Have you ever thought about God being your Spiritual Father? What do you think it means that He is holy? What can you pray about today?
Closing Prayer
Father, we are in awe of Your holiness. Help us learn to communicate with You in a way that pleases You and brings You glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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