The Lord’s Prayer (Part 3) – How do we begin a prayer?

Powerpoint Pictures: Telephone; Letter; Football Match; TV show logo; London New Years Fireworks

How do we begin or how do things begin? *[A telephone call – Hello; A letter – Dear, To; Football Match – Referee blows whistle; TV Show – theme tune; London New Years Fireworks – Big Ben’s Chimes]*

How do you begin a prayer?

What does Jesus who knows how God wants us to pray, say?

Jesus says…

“This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven…” (Matthew 6:9)

I want you to think about the two words Jesus tells us to begin our prayers with.

Our Father.

By starting our prayers with these two words, we are being told to remember two things whenever we pray.

1. You are a child of God.

That it is possible to call God “Father” is incredible because this is something we should not be able to do – because of our sin we were children of wrath.

Yet if we are trusting in Jesus, He has saved us and forgiven us and made us children of God.

So when we pray, remember how we can only pray to God as Father because of what Jesus has done for us.

2. You are not the only child of God.

Notice how our prayers are to begin.  Not “My Father” but “Our Father”.

When Jesus saves us and makes us children of God, He puts us into God’s family and we have lots of brothers and sisters, and when we pray we are to think about them.

Yes, we should pray for ourselves and our needs, but we should also pray for other people too.