Grow up
Malaci 4:2
We must examine our own praying in light of the characteristics of the Lord’s Prayer. To begin with, the plural pronouns in the prayer (our, we, and us) indicate that the Lord’s Prayer is a family prayer. We may pray in solitude, but we never really pray alone, for as the people of God we belong to each other and we affect each other. It isn’t wrong to pray about personal needs. The Scriptures record many personal prayers where I, my, and me predominate, including David’s psalms and the prayers of Jesus and Paul. The plural pronouns in the Lord’s Prayer remind us that we belong to a great family of faith and we must never ask anything for ourselves that would adversely affect our Christian brothers and sisters in the church at large.
The Lord’s Prayer is not only a family prayer, it’s a balanced prayer. In it you find requests that relate to the past (“forgive us our debts”), the present (“Give us today our daily bread”), and the future (“your kingdom come”). Some requests relate to the program of God and others to the needs of God’s people. Too often our prayers are focused primarily on what we need rather than on what God wants to give or do.
To maturing children of God, prayer is a moment-by-moment adventure into the will of God, the character of God, and the blessing of God. Christians who pray are always learning more about the Lord and themselves. Their Christian walk is a constant fellowship in the things of the Spirit. No matter what the circumstances, they speak to the Lord from their hearts and he speaks to them from his Word. Praying means participating in God’s miraculous work in this world and letting him receive all the glory. Prayer is the most important thing in their life.
