Matthew 6: 9 After
this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy
name.
Once at school,
everyone has learned the tables. The teacher started at the multiplication
table first with the table of 1andf 2 then 5 and 10 and then the hardest
tables. But those multiplication tables were just number which you just had to
know at the rght place. They didn’t mean a lot to you. You just wanted that
multiplication table degree, at least that what I wanted. Ready is ready and
done is done.
So can be the
prayer too. The Lord Jesus has taught us the Lord's prayer, also called the
prayer of the Lord. Often it is a prayer without to really know what you are
saying. It is instilled early and then we can say the prayer our entire lives.
Inculcating is good, but just saying without you realize why, that's not good.
The Lord's prayer is not like the multiplication tables at school, it is about
what you say. The Lord Jesus has taught us if we don’t know what to pray, we
echo His words. It is a good thing that we learn these words when we are young,
because we remember them the rest of our lives.
Our Father! The
Lord Jesus starts heavy. He doesn’t start with a bunch of words to describe
God, no He begins with Father. A father is someone who cares, someone who loves
his his children, he wants to hold them close en wants the beste for them. He is
close for his child and wants to know everything. No matter what, he is happy
by being told. So it is with God as well. He wants to be such a Father to us
and also wants to listen to us that way. It is not just father, that would be
every father, or my Father but Lord Jesus says: our father. We must also call
God Father. He taught us that way. This
means that God wants to handle with you. As a father, so he also loves you!
That Father is in
heaven. That means that God is in heaven where He has His throne. He sits there
with His angels are around Him. But that doesn’t mean that God is not with us.
He is everywhere. He is in front of you and next to you and above you and below
you. God is everywhere! If you call Him then he stands next to you and then you
can tell Him everything.
That name is
sanctified. God's Name is holy and is not commonplace. Around you, you'll hear
His name quite often to be called and screamed. At times of joy and at times of
grief. But that name is already too often cursed. Then that Name is to be
abused. That's what Christ doesn’t mean. He wants us to have respect for the
name of God. How's that for you? Do you use that name as holy? Is that name for
you special? Or is it a word you say everythime? Let it be a holy name, to His
glory!
How delicious that
Lord Jesus teaches us so much in 1 sentence. He let us know that God can be
reached and that he wants to hear. This first sentence of the Lord's prayer is
already so full of his praise that you wonder how beautiful the rest will be.
We want to think about it over the next few days. The Lord Jesus himself
teaches us wonderfull and great things about God, Himself and the Holy Spirit.
Learn this prayer
and let it bring you to Christ. Let it be that God is not far away, but that He
is close to you. He wants you around and he wants you close to Him.
