Sunday 19th May
Read Matthew 6:9-13
“This, then, is how you should pray:
‘“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.” (NIVUK)
Don Carson comments that the question each of us should ask is whether our public prayer is the overflow of our private prayer. If not, hypocrisy has captured our hearts. The flip side to that question, how should we be praying in private, is captured here. Jesus begins His model prayer with ‘Our Father’, not ‘My Father’.
As much as we should pray in private, the prayer we offer is not thereby ‘personal’. We pray with others in mind from the beginning, even when our thoughts and hearts are lifted up. There is always a corporate character to our prayer. We recognise God as ‘our’ Father. Together. We pray and ask for ‘our’ food, ‘our’ forgiveness and ‘our’ freedom from spiritual oppression. It is a community, a kingdom, we are praying for.
