Prayer of the Past for the Present

Hi, welcome my friend! I have a reflection for us which I thought may be rather timely with world events at the moment but first let’s grab our cuppa’s & get comfy.

I’m enjoying a cup of Sticky date tea today. What’s your’s?

Now we are comfy let us begin…

When I was a little girl

When I was a little girl, I went to several schools of faith (my father’s work required us to live in different regional areas a few years at a time) I clearly remember my first day at school with all its new experiences.

I was delighted that we prayed as we stood behind our desks before our lessons began.

Learning that praying is essentially a chat with God.

The prayer we prayed each morning is known as the Lord’s prayer & was the prayer Jesus taught His disciples;

Our Father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name,

Thy Kingdom come,

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our sins, as we forgive others,

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.

(Matthew 6: 9-13 & Luke 11: 2-4)

As an Adult…

As an adult I also had a first day experience at another educational school of faith, this time it was at Missionary & Bible College.

I remember strange words being used by the lecturers in those first few weeks, words like hermeneutics, homiletics & exegesis.

Exegesis means, the critical explanation of a text, especially of scripture.

So I thought it would be exciting to highlight the exegesis on the above prayer as my themes for 2021 & 2022 have been about Prayer.

So, let’s explore this most significant prayer again that Jesus taught.

For there are treasures here still to be found every time we take a closer look at this prayer.

Let’s examine the beginning

The beginning of this prayer is pivotal to all prayer, for all mankind for all seasons.

I know that sounds a very grand statement to make but as we dig deeper you will discover for yourself the absolute precious gems Jesus gave us in this profound prayer.

This prayer was given just after the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus had been teaching the multitudes the fullness of God’s truths that were quite startling to the Jewish world at that time.

He then began teaching this prayer to His disciples on their request, highlighting the need to come before God the Father privately each day.

In other words spend quality time with Him without distractions.

The beginning…

When we examine the beginning of this prayer it reads Our Father who is in heaven, we note that Jesus directs us to God the Father & no one else.

This can also be seen in all the prayers Jesus prayed that are recorded in Scripture.

Every one of them addressed God the Father directly. Why? Because,

Only God the Father has the power to answer prayer 

Let’s qualify this & also look at the following scripture that Jesus imparted a little later, at the time He was preparing the disciples for His death.

He told them that our heavenly Father would recognize prayer requests specifically in His name from that time forth, Jesus Christ’s name,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, if you shall ask the Father for anything, He will give it to you in My name. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask & you will receive, that your joy made be made full. “

John 16: 23 & 24

&

“In that day you will ask in My name, & I do not say to you that I will request the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you because you have believed in Me & have believed that I came forth from the Father.”

John 16: 26 & 27

You see directing our prayers to our heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ signifies where we are at.

It signifies that we have come into that personal relationship of salvation with the Father through His Son Jesus.

Recognising His sacrifice on the cross, His resurrection & His return to the Father (the ascension).

You may be thinking the following,

Hold on Jennifer, doesn’t God use His Spirit & angels to answer prayer?

Yes He does, God answers prayer through His Holy Spirit & also utilizes His multitude of heavenly angels.

However, we must remember it’s God the Father who answers our requests by directing & empowering the answers to those prayers, for only He holds the power to make all things happen (Romans 8:28).

Second, glorifying the Father

When we study Jesus’ life on earth, we see a consistent glorifying of the Father.

Everything He did & said was to glorify God the Father who sent Him.

And the second line of the Lord’s prayer is no exception, Jesus directs us to pray,

“Our Father who is in heaven,

Hallowed be Thy name…”

Hallowed, means to keep Holy. Keep the name of God Holy.

In other words it reads, ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Holy is Your name’.

This gives glory to God the Father for He is a Holy God & His Name is Holy.

Did you know that the ancient Hebrews believed that God’s name Yaweh was so sacred that they didn’t utter it!

And that it was actually the meaning & sound of life itself!

His name is found at the very beginning when life here on Earth was being created in Genesis 2:4!

For it is actually written thus, YHWH, יְהֹוָה without vowels, sounding yh vh, which is essentially the sound of breathing & unpronounceable!

Try the following Exercise 

Exhale through your mouth, yh is heard & inhale through your mouth, vh is heard! So God’s name is said in every breath we take! Refer II

How awesome is that!

Until next time,

Jennifer

Next in this series is From here to Kingdom come →

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© 2022, Jennifer M. Ross, teawithjennifer.blog All Rights Reserved. Photo on Pexels.com 

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