Classic Episode - Lord Teach Us to Pray

Let us go back to a time when Jesus walked the earth as a man. His disciples journeyed with Him, each day they did life together. Yet Jesus would often go to secluded place, away from the crowds and be alone with His Father in heaven. As you listen be blessed, empowered and transformed in Jesus name.

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Transcript

00:00 Intro music and voice over.

Welcome to jesus loves the world podcast. For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Be blessed empowered and transformed in Jesus’ name! 

00:21 Speaker

Let us go back to a time when Jesus walked the earth as a man. His disciples journeyed with Him, each day they did life together. Yet Jesus would often go to secluded place, away from the crowds and be alone with His Father in heaven. 

There were times when the disciples were privy to those moments. They recognised that the way Jesus prayed was very different to their concept of prayer. They therefore said, Lord teach us to pray. 

Luke 11:1-4 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.”

Let us look at each aspect of Jesus’ response to ‘Lord teach us to pray.’

1: Our Father Who is in Heaven

In response Jesus reveals to His disciples that His relationship, intimacy and oneness with God the Father is for them to receive, experience and possess. Jesus affirms their identity as a child of God in saying our Father. Their identity is a direct result of being in relationship with Jesus. They had received Him as their saviour and Lord therefore they also received God the Father, as they are one. The disciples were yet to understand this truth and live in the reality of it. 

Yet Jesus declares Our Father. He is saying My Father in heaven is your Father too. As you are My disciples you inherit all things including my relationship with God the Father. 

To think that we could have the same oneness, intimacy and position that Jesus the Son of God has in human form with God the Father is beyond reason. 

How could we believe and receive such a deep revelation? 

God in His great love made a way for us that even our doubting flesh could not deny. It is our choice whether to receive Jesus’ sacrifice or reject Him. In rejecting Jesus we reject God the Father.

In receiving Jesus we receive the Father and His Spirit within. The same oneness and relationship that Jesus has with His Father, our Father is ours to receive.

Each day we can engage with our Father in Heaven, just as Jesus did all those centuries ago. To hear our Father whisper that He loves us, is well pleased with us and that we are His most precious jewel, His beloved is so special. 

I treasure hearing His voice, having His Spirit transforming within and each day receiving a greater revelation of Him. Living in a continual love feast with the Lord God Almighty in this world damaged by evil. All a work by Him to receive. So amazing! So marvellous! So wonderful is He.

Our Father in heaven. By His Spirit may those words go deep into our hearts.

2: Hallowed Be Your Name

Jesus is revealing the Father and His Kingdom. Father God, is the Lord God Almighty. He is holy, holy, holy! Through praying this prayer His disciples acknowledge and declare to the powers that God is holy, all powerful, eternal and ever present. 

In the Old Testament God reveals Himself as holy. To those who were called by His name He declared, ‘You are holy, a chosen people.’ However His name was not hallowed by those who said they were His and many chose to walk away. They worshipped gods made with human hands, defiled the land and profaned His name among the nations. 

The prophet Ezekiel declared that one day God will gather His people from the nations, cleanse them, and as a result vindicate the holiness of His great name. The hallowing of the Father’s name means the arrival of God’s kingdom.

Jesus is saying Father, righteous Father, holy Father, may Your name be hallowed Throughout all the earth.

May everything we do hallow His name for His Kingdom has come in Jesus. In reverence and respect we can speak to Him, worship Him, know what the kingdom of God is and live in that reality. As we surrender to Him and let Him transform us, each day receiving more of Him, we are hallowing His name. Letting Him do the work by His Spirit, in Jesus name, to the glory of our Father.

3: Your Kingdom Come

Jesus taught, preached, demonstrated and is the embodiment of God’s Kingdom of earth. In His response to ‘Lord teach us to pray,’ Jesus is declaring over His disciples the reality of the kingdom here on earth. To engage with our Father and hear his heartbeat. 

Jesus preached the good news to the poor, healed the broken hearted, proclaimed liberty to the captives, gave sight to the blind, broke the chains of oppression and declared at the time of His first coming it was the beginning of all these things taking place. 

Today we still live in that period, the appointed time by God. This side of Jesus’ death on the cross, His resurrection, ascension and Spirit outpouring, Jesus’ mission continues through His disciples. Each one of us has been given His identity, His name, His power and authority and part in His healing mission.

4: Your Will Be Done

When we pray we engage with the heart of our Father and are empowered to know His will. In surrender of self will we can receive more of Him. By His Spirit become one with Him. To know and experience more of His unconditional love, liberating truth and transforming power. 

Jesus said, when you pray say these words, know and declare His will. This is not some form of Christian magic. God does not need us to declare His will for His will to be done. He is greater than all things. Yet He chose us to be part of His wonders and through our surrendered hearts and minds His will is done. 

In a heart mind condition of surrender the transforming power of God freely flows.

God’s will is that none should perish, yet because He so loves, Her gave everyone free choice. To receive Jesus as saviour and king or reject Jesus. His saving purpose planned before the beginning of time is to gather together in one all things in heaven and earth in Christ Jesus, under His rule and reign. God in Christ Jesus restores harmony and peace to the universe. In Him we are one with Him.

Jesus’ response not only reveals the will of the Father and His Kingdom but empowers every disciple to be part of His wonders. These are not empty words to be recited as a religious ritual. They are rich with revelation and truth. 

Let us go deeper.

5: Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

God knows our weaknesses and how we think. As a result He protects us from our own failings and self by giving us enough grace for the day. Each day is a journey. To come to Him, engage with Him, surrender our will and receive more of Him. Sit at the feet of the master and listen to Him. 

Jesus knew the value of always being engaged with His Father, Our Father. The need we have to receive fresh manna from heaven, deeper revelation, fuller transformation and greater empowerment. We cannot thrive on yesterday’s encounter, provision and miracle. There is always more with God and each day is a new day for more. 

In the natural we need to regularly put fuel into our bodies, eat and drink for the day is long. The same in the spiritual. We need to be in a continual state of receiving from Him, drinking in His presence and fuelled by being surrendered to His will.

It is our Father’s will to give us each day our daily bread. To amaze and astound us. 

Therefore let us be reminded to make our time with Him each day our first priority. Not as a religious obligation but as a necessity to receive and possess what He freely gives. All of Himself.

In Jesus’ words we acknowledge, know and trust that God provides, totally dependant on Him.

6: Forgive Us

It is important to understand that Jesus is speaking to His disciples who have a Jewish mindset. He is revealing to them in a Jewish style of reasoning the heart of Father God and the reality of His Kingdom. 

God is in an eternal state of forgiveness. Forgiveness for God is part of who He is. He does not need us to forgive others, for Him to forgive. 

Jesus also told a story on forgiveness. A servant received forgiveness of a vast debt. It was completely cancelled by his master, yet he was not transformed by that experience because he did not let go of the offences done to him. 

From God’s perspective the two are not conditional as the servant received forgiveness. However for us to be able to receive that forgiveness and be transformed by the experience they are intricately linked.

From our perspective for us to be able to receive His forgiveness, we need to know someone has paid the cost. Jesus sacrificed Himself and became our substitute to pay the cost so we could believe and receive God’s forgiveness, which is always available. When we live in this reality we can forgive others as Jesus paid the cost for them too.

When we forget we are forgiven we hold onto offences done to us. Jesus powerfully teaches us to let go of all offences done to us, so that can we can receive His forgiveness and be transformed by the experience.

7: Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness on our behalf. He came to identity Himself with us so that we could identify with Him. God did not lead Him into temptation but into our wilderness where satan tested Him. 

Jesus did not need to be tested, however He subjected Himself to the full human condition so we could receive and believe His full victory. Unlike humanity Jesus did not succumb to any one of the three temptations. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life. He never used His power for His own self glory or gain.

To pray lead us not into temptation reveals our will is now one with the Father’s will. That we do not enter into temptation. We know and believe that God the Father does not tempt us or lead us down that path. Jesus is breaking through false perceptions of God and self.  

God leads us besides the still water, restores, renews, transforms and gives life everlasting. In Him the powers of the flesh and evil are broken. It is a daily journey to live in this past reality of Jesus’ victory. Lord teach us to pray. 

8: Deliver Us From Evil

Our Father has delivered us from the powers of evil and self. Yet evil is still present. Everything of God’s perfect world has been corrupted. However in Christ Jesus, in the fullness of time all things will be one in Him. Evil will be eliminated. As for now He has delivered us from evil and eternal death and as we live in this reality we testify to those powers of Jesus’ victory. 

Jesus’ response to Lord teach us to pray is an intimate and deep revelation of our relationship with Him and our Father Heaven, reflecting the power and glory of His eternal kingdom. 

Jesus said, this is our Father’s kingdom, this is My kingdom, this is your kingdom to live in now and forever more. We have a place, identity and position given to us as a result of receiving Him.

Each day is a new day to receive more of Him. Living in the reality of His kingdom of forgiveness and freedom, equality and respect, victory and transformation. A reality where His love, truth and power rules and reigns in our everyday lives. 

The more I know Him the more my prayers are simply listening to Him. In spirit crawling up into the lap of our glorious Father in heaven listening to His heartbeat. One with Jesus, one with our Father. Father your will be done in and through my life.

We herald in His kingdom, praying according to our Father’s will. Heaven and earth will become one. His name will be hallowed by all throughout eternity. His will and kingdom will be fulfilled. 

For this is His Kingdom, the power and glory forever and ever, amen! 

19:40 Outro music and voice over. 

For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Be blessed empowered and transformed in Jesus’ name!