How to Pray - Reflections on the Lord's Prayer

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The only 'ask' for physical provision taught in the Lord’s Prayer is “Give us today our daily bread”.  If ‘daily bread’ represents our essential needs on a day to day basis, what place is there to be asking God for anything more than this.  Doesn’t Jesus also encourage us to ask for ‘anything’? Doesn’t the bible teach us that God will give us the ‘desired of our heart”? 

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In teaching us to pray daily for the recurring needs we have each day, rather than for tomorrow, Jesus is pushing into the importance of our reliance on the Father.  To what extent should this change the way we plan for the future.  Elsewhere, planning is seen as positive thing in Jesus’ teaching and other scriptures, so how can we get the right balance between preparation and dependence?

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Touching again on the communal aspect of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray “give US today”, not “give ME today”. How do we interpret asking God to give in the context of a faith community where we are called to serve each other.  Does serving each other extend to being part of God providing for other people’s needs?  The wider teaching of Jesus and the apostles suggest that it does!

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We’re now into the second half of the Lord’s Prayer, yet only now does Jesus teach us to ask for anything. How often do our prayer times resemble a shopping list of requests rather than the structure Jesus teaches, where our focus is on God and His Kingdom first before asking for things.  This is totally in line with Jesus’ teaching to seek the Kingdom of God first.  He also teaches that God knows what we need before we eve ask, so is there even any need to be asking for anything?   

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As we reach the half-way point in our reflections on the Lord’s Prayer, we consider how God’s Will can be accomplished through the context of our everyday lives and I share the back story to the music theme use in this podcast.  With this episode, we’ll be taking a pause for Easter 25 and will recommence in the week beginning 21st April ’25.  Blessings!

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Today we continue to reflect on praying for God’s Will to be done.  Following on from looking at Jesus’ extreme example of praying this, what does it mean for us to do it?  How instrumental are we in carrying out God’s will on earth?

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Today we reflect on praying for God’s Will to be done.  Following on from praying that God’s Kingdom will come, Jesus teaches us to pray that His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. How does Jesus’ example shine a light on what this really means? Do we understand the extent to which praying for God’s will to be done, requires us to submit our own will to His?

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Today we consider Kingdom Values - the way in which we’re called to live our lives if we're to be effective in advancing God’s Kingdom.  When we pray, "Your Kingdom Come", are our lives consistent with the values of the Kingdom we're praying for, or are we in danger of just paying lip service to it?  

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In today’s application episode, we move into the 3rd line of the Lord’s Prayer with ‘Your Kingdom Come’.  What is God’s Kingdom and what does praying for it ‘to come’ really mean? We consider the Kingdoms in play in Jesus' day and reflect on those that are still in competition for our allegiance today. We also reflect on what role we might have to play in helping to build God's Kingdom here on earth.

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In today’s application episode, we pause again to take stock of what we’ve learnt so far, and consider the practical implications of praying the second like of the Lord’s Prayer.  Can a fuller understanding of the words ‘Hallowed’ and ‘Name’ motivate us to a more action-based approach to prayer?