Luke 11:2-4 And He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed by your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation."
Thirty-seven words...that's how long the Lord's Prayer is in Luke (New American Standard Version). And yet the people who broke the Bible into verses assigned three verses to the passage. It seems that there are three main thoughts associated with the Prayer. The first thought is that God is Holy and His Kingdom is also Holy. "Your kingdom come": three words that sum up the whole point of the Bible. We were lost in sin and separated from God. But then we were redeemed according to the ancient plan of God, through the sacrifice of His only Son. He did this to tie together His creation (including us) with His heavenly kingdom...that we would be of one kingdom. Yet, other kingdom's still compete for our affection, our attention and our very hearts. The first step in our prayers is to align ourselves with the eternal Heavenly Kingdom that has been restored to us at such a great price. We are in His kingdom...He is our holy king...His authority is what we bow before...His kind and holy care we gladly submit to. The New King James Version adds the familiar phrase: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." It seems a starting point for prayer is our "alignment" with God and His Kingdom. Perhaps our requests and the rest of our prayer will fall in line if our heart is first properly aligned with Him.
blessings,
Rob Smith
No comments:
Post a Comment