Day 1 – January 1

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.  Matthew 6:9b-13 NKJV 

Some of you are old enough to have watched NBC’s gift to America, Night Court. The main character was a kooky judge named Harry. One of his bailiffs was not terribly bright but oh so well-meaning; Bull was his name. And then there was the janitor, Art. 

In one episode in particular, Bull thinks that Art, the janitor, might be God. He explains his reasoning to Harry. “You know, like ‘Our Father, who is Art in heaven.‘“ Harry is unconvinced, and I laugh.

In the version of the Lord’s prayer that we are looking at together today, we don’t see that older English term that makes no sense to many of us and our modern sensibilities. What should make sense to us, is that it is the Lord Jesus himself who is voicing this prayer to his followers, and by extension to us. 

When asked how to pray, Jesus says “when you pray,” pray like this. Jesus expects his followers to be people of prayer. We must remember that. He prayed, he modeled prayer for us, he instructed us how to pray, and he now hears our prayers from heaven. That sure seems like prayer is a priority for our savior!

Interestingly, we are to pray “Our Father.” I can’t pray that prayer alone. That means that Jesus expects that we will pray together. And when we do, we will recognize his holiness, being set apart in heaven. We will lift his name high. We will desire the coming of his consummated kingdom. We will ask only for his will to be done. We will ask for provision. We will ask for forgiveness and that we might be forgiving to others. We will desire to be shielded from temptation, and we will pray for the mercy of God’s protection from our enemy.

I’ll admit, sometimes I don’t quite know what to pray. When that happens, I can always consider the model prayer Jesus gave us in Matthew 6. That is a fine place to start.

Heavenly Father, make us into a people who pray WITH one another. May we be so aware of your holiness that it scarcely is absent from our lips. May we so desire your will that it predominates our thoughts. May we long for your Son’s return that your kingdom may be complete. You always provide for us with your new daily mercies. We know how deep our sin has been and in that we cannot help but to call it sin and receive your mercy. So much more, you empower us to forgive others, something we could not do on our own. We know temptation is around every corner, and we armor up as you have equipped us to be led away from temptation. The evil one has no authority where you do not permit him, and so deliver us from his schemes. You are our first love, and we are so grateful that we are yours. Amen

Written by: Pastor Corey Green