WE come now to the pattern prayer which Jesus gives to his disciples and through them to us all. In Matthew’s Gospel the introduction to this prayer suggests that Jesus was giving an example of prayer that we can use as a pattern for us, around which we can form our praying. This is very much so. In this prayer Jesus covers all the necessary ingredients of prayer. If we use the Lord’s prayer as a frame work for our praying we shall cover most things we need to cover in prayer. In the address “Our Father in heaven” we have a form of worship and adoration, accompanied by faith and trust. Then in the next three petitions there is a sense of adoration and worship accompanying the petition. We also find that we are commencing with the right order in prayer. We commence with God himself and his glory and his kingdom. In this part of intercession we can bring to God all things spiritual and all things pertaining to the church and the spread of the gospel. Then Jesus leads us to be concerned for our temporal life and its needs. Everything we need for our daily living in the world is bound up in the petition for God to supply our daily bread. At the same time we are made to realise that our concern before God is not for luxuries and things to satisfy our carnal appetites, but only our essential needs. This is not to say that God does not give liberally and to give us joys in living. Then when we come to seek forgiveness and to be delivered from temptation and the evil one, we include all our personal spiritual needs and of those for whom we pray. The prayer then finishes with a doxology of worship and submission to God, though this part of the Lord’s Prayer is not found in all the ancient manuscripts. So in all this we have all the essentials of prayer, and by following the pattern of the Lord’s Prayer we will find we will cover all that we should in our praying.

In Luke’s Gospel (Luke 11:1-4) where we see Jesus taught his disciples this prayer more than once, we find the introduction to the prayer suggests Jesus gives the Lord’s Prayer as a prayer to use, and it is a wonderful prayer to use. If we end our own praying with the Lord’s Prayer we will then cover everything we should in prayer, and so make up for any inadequacies and omissions in our own prayers.

As we come to study this prayer that Jesus gave us we must consider first of all the introduction - Our Father in heaven. We may be tempted to hurry over this introduction in our haste to get to the petitions, but this would be a big mistake. There is a very essential aspect of prayer which these four words present to us. It is sometimes called ‘Recollection’.

We recollect the one to whom we are coming. We are coming to our Father in heaven. There is so much here for us to consider and lay hold of. The first thing is the fact that Jesus teaches us to come to God as Father. We are indeed coming to God, who is holy and lifted up, the high and lofty One, who inhabits eternity, and whose name is Holy. He is the Almighty and eternal God. He created all things and he created us. All this tends to cause us to stand in awe of God, and be fearful in his presence, and this is no bad thing. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We should never come into the presence of God carelessly and lacking reverence. But Jesus tells us we can, and should, come to God as our Father. This is the privilege of the Christian. The believer in Jesus, who trusts Jesus and obeys him, is the only sort of person who can come to God as Father and come without fear.

We come like a little child, but we come to a Father, who is our Father. See how each word is so meaningful. This is our privilege and blessing as Christians. Through Jesus this relationship with God is made possible, and it is made possible only in Jesus and through faith in him. Here is a vivid example why every other religion falls short and fails. Only in Christ can we come to God as Father, and without fear. This also means we come to one we know, who loves us, and welcomes us. We know we come to one who has our best interests at heart. We come to one, as we know him as our Father, whose love is such that he will always protect us and care for us, and who loves us to come to him, depend on him, and be provided for by him.

Then we need to notice that Jesus leads us to come to our Father in heaven. How important this is. We do not come to a father who like all earthly fathers are in some degree weak and impotent, and so they have no strength to help and keep us beyond a certain point, however much they may want to. No earthly father is perfect, and all earthly fathers fail in love and care in some way. Many earthly fathers are positively bad fathers, and who treat their children pain, and their example to their children is harmful. So it is so important to know we come to a perfect Father. God is perfect and he is a perfect Father, and we are reminded of this when we address him as our heavenly Father. So we know we can come to him without fear. We know we can come to him and know he will listen and hear us. We can come to him and know he will answer our prayers and answer them in love to give us the best for us, which is not always exactly what we may desire or expect, but because he is our heavenly Father, we know that he gives what is best for us.

We need to spend time in such recollection. By doing so we shall find our praying is half done. By such praying we will find that our thoughts in prayer are purified, because recollecting to whom we are coming will chase from our praying that which is unworthy. By such praying we will come with confidence in prayer, knowing that our prayers are worthwhile, and are productive, and we will obtain a blessing. By such recollection in prayer we shall come to prayer with joy, for prayer then becomes communion with God, communion with our loving and glorious Father.

By such recollection we will find that our hearts are filled with praise and adoration, and in the Spirit we will find often that we are raised to sit in heavenly places in an amazing way, and our hearts will be bent before our God in humble worship. We will also know a peace and confidence that comes through knowing God as our Father through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We shall find we adore and worship our Saviour Jesus who has won this adoption into God’s family by his precious death for us.