April 29, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Monday, April 29.
This Thursday at noon, there will be a National Day of Prayer event in front of our historic courthouse here in Center, Texas. I'm coordinating this half-hour event that will include the singing of our National Anthem, and prayers for our country, our schools, our first responders, our soldiers, our churches, and our families. If we have at least 100 present we'll end at 12:30 with a human prayer chain around the courthouse, while we sing "Amazing Grace". I think it's going to be an amazing moment, and if you're one of our local readers, I hope you'll join us.
Today we'll begin a short series on prayer, in preparation for the National Day of Prayer. We focus today on the most famous prayer in history - The Lord's Prayer. It's found in two places - a short version in the gospel of Luke, and the longer, more familiar version in Matthew.
Some call it the "Our Father", but I prefer the name "The Model Prayer". Jesus was a man of constant prayer. He followed the instruction in I Thessalonians 5:17 to "pray without ceasing". But in the sixth chapter of Matthew, Jesus isn't praying - He's teaching us how to pray.
He teaches us to begin our prayers by focusing on the Father. The first three of the seven petitions in this famous passage are centered on God. Only after saying, "Thy will be done" should we ask for our daily bread. Protestant believers end this prayer with a doxology, a proclamation of praise. It isn't found in the earliest manuscripts of Matthew, but it's a beautiful expression of worship.
"For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever!"
Amen.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
