I apologize for getting to the devotional late to day. I hope it is still a blessing.
“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven…” (Matthew 6:9, NASB)
For the next several devotions, we will be walking through the Lord's prayer. When Jesus says to pray “in this way,” He is not giving us a verbatim prayer to repeat. He is giving us a model prayer of the kind of prayers we should pray and the attitude in which we should do so. Step by step, we will explore the elements of this prayer.
The first line of the prayer gives us three recognitions we should approach our prayers with.
Our prayers are personal, but not individualistic. Jesus's prayer addresses our Father, not my Father. We are part of a family. We belong to a covenant people. We approach the Father as more than just an individual. We approach Him as a member of His Church.
We are speaking to a Father, not a disconnected deity. God is our Father and He cares for us. We should approach Him with that understanding.
Our Father sees things more clearly than we do. He is in heaven. He stands above time and space. While we fret with uncertainty, He already sees the outcome of the things we are bringing to Him.
As you pray, remember these things.