PRAY LIKE JESUS: 6 WEEKS ON THE LORD'S PRAYER


Where do we even start? The needs of our world, our city, our church, our own families, our own lives? Where do we even start to pray? Jesus, can you teach us how to pray? Can you show us how to come into the Father’s presence --- not with some sort of formula--- but with freedom? Can you show us how to trust you with the totality of our lives and the concerns of this world? Can you re-orient us with a grace-filled, eyes-wide-open perspective of who you are and what you are up to in this world?


“Each petition of the Lord’s prayer is a window onto Jesus’ character and actions before it is instruction for us.” - “The Lord’s Prayer: A Guide to Praying to Our Father” by Wesley Hill


Pray like Jesus.


  • "OUR FATHER"

    October 10, 2021


    Matthew 6:9

    Pastor Ed Black


    With the very first words of his prayer, Jesus invites us to approach God with the trust and dependence of children. Because of Jesus, we have been adopted into God’s family. “Father” is a troubling word for many. But our heavenly parent is fully and faithfully present to us, attunned to us. “Our Father,” we say as we begin to pray like Jesus. When we pray “hallowed be your name,” we are asking to know God rightly and to have the grace to live our lives in such a way that God’s name is honored.


  • "YOUR KINGDOM COME"

    October 17, 2021


    Matthew 6:10

    Matt DeHarte


    What is God’s Kingdom? Many people think God’s Kingdom is just another way of talking about “Heaven” or the afterlife. If that’s the case, then the Lord’s Prayer makes no sense! But God’s Kingdom is wherever God is King. Wherever God’s will is done, that’s God’s Kingdom. Jesus teaches his disciples to pray that God’s Kingdom would come into the here and now, “on earth as in heaven.” Here and now, may your will be done.

  • "DAILY BREAD"

    October 24, 2021

    Matthew 6:11


    Pastor Chuck Fowler

    Jesus instructs us to pray for our basic physical needs. He did this to help us recognize that God alone is the only source of all that is good and needed in our lives. We’ve been conditioned to think that our energy and abilities are the things that provide for us, not God’s active care and provision. But without God’s blessing, all of our best efforts will do us no good. This prayer turns our trust from all other sources to God alone.

  • "FORGIVE US AS WE FORGIVE"

    November 7, 2021


    Matthew 6:12


    Emmanuel Engulu


    Jesus calls us to confess our sin openly and honestly before God, and to ask for forgiveness for our many sins and the evil that clings to us each day. On the basis of what Jesus did for us in his life, death, and resurrection, we can trust his promise of forgiveness. What does it mean to live as a forgiven people? Our prayer is that as we receive this forgiveness we find God’s grace at work in us in such a way that we can turn around and offer wholehearted forgiveness to others.

  • "DELIVER US"

    November 14, 2021


    Matthew 6:13


    Matt DeHarte


    It’s an unpopular notion, but Scripture is clear that there is a real force of evil at work in our world. But, as the Heidelberg Catechism says, “We are so weak that we cannot stand by ourselves for one moment.” Jesus teaches us to pray to escape the pervasive influence of this dark power. We need the strength of the Holy Spirit to preserve and strengthen us to stand firm.

  • "YOURS IS THE KINGDOM"

    November 21, 2021


    1 Chronicles 29:11


    Pastor Chuck Fowler


    We pray because God, as our King, is able to give us all that is good since he has power over all things. We pray knowing that God is willing to give us all that is good, because Jesus has revealed God’s generous heart and nature to us. Our response is simple: to worship God with our whole lives and to live for his glory. May our hearts be awakened to the goodness and grace and power of God our King.