Have you ever recited the Lord’s Prayer in a church service? Some churches recite it frequently; others, such as the churches I grew up in, not so much. As a consequence, when I was in a church service where the congregation did recite the prayer, I stumbled along, trying to remember the words I was vaguely familiar with but hadn’t committed to memory. (I have memorized it since then and I encourage memorizing it for everyone.)
The Lord’s Prayer wasn’t a big focus for me growing up. I didn’t understand it. Well, on a surface level, yes, I did, but not in a deep way. It was somewhat of a mystery to me. I didn’t quite know what to think of it or what to do with it, even though it did have some lovely turns of phrase.
More Than Meets the Eye
In recent times, however, after a more thorough study of it, I have come to highly value the Lord’s Prayer. It’s like Jesus gave us, in the Lord’s Prayer, a key to unlock a great treasure, one we didn’t even know was there. Or that we needed.
The Lord’s Prayer came about when one of Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them to pray. He knew that John the Baptizer taught his disciples to pray, and this unnamed disciple of Jesus’ was apparently hungry enough to go deeper with God, to ask Jesus to do the same for them.
Unlocking the Treasure of Prayer
So, Jesus gave his disciples a model prayer, a pattern for crafting our own personal prayers to God. It is a teaching tool with which to build our prayers, guiding us to go deeper with God, teaching us how to pray.
Teach Us to Pray—The Practice of Prayer—Learning to Pray from the teachings of Jesus, with practical application is a Bible study that takes us deeper into understanding the Lord’s Prayer, unlocking that treasure trove God has for us, and drawing us closer to God our Father.
Come along with me as I blog about the lessons in this Bible study of the Lord’s Prayer, and get a taste of what I mean.