Holy Boldness

Chapter 14 T he L ord ’ s P rayer

In the middle of this section of the Sermon Jesus spoke out a simple yet profound and often repeated prayer. It is known as “the Lord’s prayer”, the “model prayer” or the “Our Father” but in its essence, it is a cry for the fear of the Lord to be established in a person’s life. The first line is filled with implications. “Our Father, who is in Heaven, hallowed be your name.” (Matt. 6:9) The first two words are unlike any prayer that had ever been uttered. Jesus unveiled the mystery of one’s relationship with God being a relationship between a father and his children. Jesus invited His disciples into the mystery of intimate relationship with these first two words. As we have already stated, no prayer of the Old Testament ever addressed God as “father” although He was compared to a father in a couple of places. This familiarity with God greatly offended the Pharisees who valued formality over intimacy. But Jesus was asked by His disciples to teach them how to pray and this is how He began. This request was probably provoked by the impact that His prayers were having on them. The fact that Jesus taught the disciples to pray, “ Our Father…” was just one more way that Jesus identified with mankind and invited it into the relationship with God as He experienced it. He was teaching us as the older brother . (See Hebrews 2:11). As He said to Mary in the garden after He had risen from the dead, “I ascend to My Father and Your Father and My God and your God”. (John 20:17). Jesus came to teach us how to access the privileges of sonship as He, Himself, enjoyed them. Praying to God as Father changes the focus of a person’s entire life because it places the person praying in an intimate setting, a corporate setting, and a family setting. It is intimate because to call God father creates a unique and vulnerable way in which to approach Him. It is corporate because it sets us in a place of privilege enjoyed by all who

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