Weekly Devotion no 8
22 May 2020
Bible reading – Matthew 6:9-13
9 ‘This, then, is how you should pray:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.”
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.”
Reflection - How to Pray
We’ve
looked at what prayer is and why we pray. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be considering
how to pray and we’ll use the Lord’s Prayer to help us explore this.
The
Lord’s Prayer is very familiar to most of us. You might have been taught it by
your parents when you were very little, or you might have learnt it at school
or Sunday school. It’s often a prayer that we rely on when we can’t think of
anything else to pray and, as we’ll see over the next few weeks, that’s no bad
thing!
Have
you ever noticed that the prayer seems to be in two halves? Verses 9-10 focus
on God and verses 11-13 focus on ourselves and how we might treat others. They
seem to parallel the things that Jesus taught his disciples were the most
important:
“Love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like
it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39
So,
loving God and loving our neighbour is important in how we live, but also in
how we pray.
The
other thing that is interesting in the Lord’s Prayer is, that whilst Jesus is
not directly mentioned in it, as we will see in coming weeks, Jesus embodies
this prayer. He teaches us to pray, but he also lives this prayer and so the
prayer enables us to glorify the Father through the Son.
Hymn
Verse
1
How
sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a
believer's ear
It
soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.
Verse
2
It
makes the wounded spirit whole,
And
calms the troubled breast;
'Tis
manna to the hungry soul,
And to
the weary rest.
Verse
3
Dear
Name! the rock on which I build,
My shield
and hiding place,
My never failing treasury, filled
with boundless stores of
grace.
Verse
4
Jesus, my Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
my
Prophet, Priest and King,
My Lord,
my life, my Way, my End
Accept
the praise I bring.
Verse
5
Weak is
the effort of my heart,
And
cold my warmest thought;
But
when I see Thee as Thou art,
I'll praise Thee as I ought.
Verse
6
Till
then I would Thy love proclaim
With
every fleeting breath;
And may
the music of Thy Name
Refresh my soul in death.
John Newton © 1779 Public Domain CCLI:69198
Prayer
O Thou,
By whom
we come to God,
The Life,
the Truth, the Way;
The path
of prayer Thyself hath trod;
Lord,
teach us how to pray. Amen
James Montgomery: Prayer is the soul's desire
Comments