Lord’s Prayer – 1of10

Armodoxy for Today: 10x One Minutes on the Lord’s Prayer, Number 1

Wars, threats of wars, floods, disasters, shootings, and the response to these tragedies seems to be a standard: Pray! Newscasters tell us, “We keep them (the victims) in our thoughts and prayers.” While thought we understand, our idea of prayer ranges from a shopping list of wants to put before God to a quiet meditation on the tragedy.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs us with the words, “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases… for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then in this way:

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 also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.

Each word in this prayer is a power-word making the entire prayer meaningful and effective. Over the next few days we will look at each phrase and its meaning for the Christian today.

This is the first of 10, one minute for Summertime.