I have a extended family member who has a little boy and this past week she asked for some tips on how to teach her son how to pray.
Dear Tom & Michelle & Tommy J.,
I thought the best way to start in teaching Tommy J. how to pray is by looking at the prayer in the Bible that Jesus taught us to pray.
Matthew 6:9-13
9After this manner ought you to pray:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11Give us this day our daily bread.
12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Before we begin to examine how we can use this as a template to inform our children how to pray we need to make some preliminary considerations.
The first consideration is found in the that little word “Our,” that I have put in bold relief. When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray he was teaching a group of men who were already named and owned by God. This is why Jesus could teach them to address God as, “Our Father.”
This is key to understand. Jesus was not teaching a group of Hindu or Muslim worshipers how to pray. He was teaching a group of those who already worshiped the God of the Bible how to pray.
The point here is that only those who are worshipers of God can address the God of the Bible as “Our Father.” If we are not worshipers of God we cannot address God in this way. If we are not worshipers of the one true God, then we have to give up the false god or gods we are worshiping and humble ourselves before the God of the Bible and worship Him. The Bible teaches that if we are not worshipers of the God of the Bible then God will not hear our prayers.
“Behold, Jehovah’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).
So, our first lesson about prayer, Tommy J., is that we must be worshipers of the one true God. If we are not worshipers of the God of the Bible then we cannot refer to God as “Our Father.”
The good news Tommy J., is that God will receive all those who ask Him to be their God.
Tomorrow, Tommy J., we will look in to how it is possible that God would hear our prayers.
