This, then, is how you should pray: “our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Matthew 6:9
To best understand the Lord’s Prayer, we first must put ourselves in the place of the disciples. They followed Jesus from town to town witnessing first hand his power to heal, to cast out demonic powers, and to calm the weather. Jesus’ relationship with his father in heaven enabled him to do this kind of work. The disciples trusted Jesus. They learned to love him and their desire to be like their Teacher may have prompted their plea, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Behind those words breathed the longing to have a close relationship with God like the one Jesus enjoyed.
Jesus offers them this prayer as a pattern to guide their communion with God. This pattern balances God’s will with our needs. The phrases, “hallowed be your name,” and “yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever” stabilize the entire prayer with an attitude of worship. We should revere God’s name. We should look for his kingdom to come, and to wish for his plans to be done instead of ours. This prayer calls us to fix our eyes on eternity.
This pattern for prayer also reminds us that we have a father in heaven who loves us very much. The first line of this prayer addresses God as Father, and not as King or Judge. God is both of those things, but by naming him as our father first, we know we can go to him with all of our troubles, fears, and hurts. He listens and then takes care of us and provides for us as his special children. This is the one Jesus is teaching us how to talk to and be in relationship with. What a wonderful comfort.
