in June, I had the wonderful pleasure of being able to serve as a counselor at my church's youth group camp. my main reason for going was to help lead the music each night at our evening meetings, but also to help serve the middle school campers that would hopefully experience some spiritual transformation during their 6 day stay at the beautiful plantation.
throughout the week, we studied different components of the Lord's Prayer. as Episcopalians, this is a prayer we say every Sunday in our service, and for most it has become part of our second nature. a lot of times we don't even think about what we're really saying, what we're actually asking God to do for us!
throughout the next few blog posts, I hope to share just a bit of what I learned, piece by piece.
{ "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name ... }
read : Matthew 6:5-13 {The Lord's Prayer}
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one."
this first line of the prayer is really proclaiming who God is, and is really just focusing our minds and our coming requests to him. by first stating, “Our Father”, we are reminding ourselves of who we are talking to - it’s just our heavenly father who has lovingly adopted us into his amazing family.
this is also our first petition to God - we’re asking that God be adored and praised and kept holy, not us. we’re about to approach an all-powerful God that knows us personally as our Father!
read : Romans 8:14-17
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
if we believe, we receive his spirit and have been adopted into God’s family.
read : 1 John 3:1
listen to : “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us”,
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
and with all this said, we must have …
a prepared heart
motivation
humility
confidence
when we approach God in prayer.
in Christ,
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