2 Things I Learned from Praying the Lord’s Prayer Each Day
Praying Lord’s Prayer every day has become a regular part of my routine and prayer life this year. Whether it’s a quick morning prayer, part of a rosary, or a moment at the end of the day I come before my Father, I’ve been intentionally trying each and every day, to pray the words that Jesus taught us to pray.
2 Things I Learned from Praying the Lord’s Prayer Each Day
I’ve been meditating the last few weeks on the prayer, the words, and the phrasing, pondering the words as they pass through my lips and escape on my breath. Praying that the Lord will make it the prayer not just of my lips but of my heart.
Pray then like this:
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 debts,
As we also have forgiven our debtors;
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil. – Matthew 6:9-13 RSVCE
Our Father.
Not my Father, but ours.
This little pronoun stands out to me, reminding me of two things. First, because of the word of Christ, I can call truly call God my Father. The second thing that stands out is even though Jesus instructs us to pray privately, prayer is still for and about our community.
1. Because of Jesus, I Am a Child of God
Because of Jesus’s work, we’ve been adopted as sons and daughters of God. We are no longer orphans, no longer wanderers, but beloved children of the Lord and members of the family of God.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature. – 2 Peter 1:3-4 RSVCE
Because of Christ’s work, we are not left in our humanity and sinfulness. We become partakers of the divine nature through grace. We are brought into the family of God and transformed to reflect more perfectly the image of God that we bear.
When we call upon God the Father, we can say with confidence that He is our Father, that we are not calling upon a distant deity but a personal, familial God who has adopted us into His family.
Often, I see a push to dismiss the familial aspects of faith and replace it with a “just me and Jesus” attitude. But this rejects the beauty of the community and family that has been purchased for us with the blood of Christ.
2. We are Adopted into a Family and Need to Pray for Our Community
When we are adopted as children of God, we are adopted into one family – not each into our own little family of just us and God. The full spectrum of believers have all been adopted into the same family. We matter to God and to one another. We are all a part of the family of God.
When we pray the Lord’s prayer as Jesus taught us, we pray not just for ourselves, but for our whole community. Jesus didn’t teach us to pray as individuals, He modeled praying as and for a family coming before their Father.
But we don’t just join with the visible Church when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we pray as a community that has endured through the ages. We join in with the Communion of Saints in repeating the Lord’s Prayer as they have since Christ first taught the disciples how to pray. We step into the path Christ paved to the Throne Room and follow the steps of those who have gone before us.
Even as we pray for our community to God the Father, all three Persons of the Trinity are glorified. Our Lord is a Trinity, three in one. Community, relationships are close to the heart of God. He didn’t send His messenger into the world, He sent His only begotten Son. He calls us His sons and daughters and fills us with His Holy Spirit.
In our prayer life, we need to actively be praying for and with a community.
Praying the Lord’s prayer every day illuminated new parts of the prayer. Both the intimacy and the communal aspects came alive in new ways. Jesus instructed us to pray the Lord’s prayer. He likely had many reasons and there is more meaning than I can unpack here but one thing is clear, He wanted us to pray these words.
If it’s not a part of your prayer life, I would encourage you to pray the Lord’s Prayer every day. Follow the instructions of Jesus and pray as He taught His disciples. Let the words that our Lord, His disciples, and generations of Christians have prayer mold your heart and lead you to the throne of our Heavenly Father.
You May Also Like:
5 Prayers Incredible Women of the Old Testament Prayed
Disciplines of the Faith: 5 Tools to Deepen Your Prayer Life