In verses Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus shares a model for believers to follow as they pray. He is speaking to crowds that have gathered around Him as He sits and preaches. His disciples are sitting there as well. Jesus is sharing that believers are not to pray to draw attention to ourselves or to just say Christian phrases so we look good. He exhorts us to pray differently. He then shares what is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus says, “Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread,
¹² and forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil.”

The first line, “Our Father in heaven” causes us to put God first, before anything we may request of Him. Jesus starts off the prayer in a way that reminds us we are to be focused on worshipping God as our Father, putting Him first in all that we do. Calling God our Father is an acknowledgement of the relationship between the Almighty Creator and His creation. Our belief in Jesus as the Son of God is the way we get to the Father. He is our Father, our Dad and loves us more than we can possibly understand. Yet, He is in heaven and we are on earth. God is all-knowing and all-powerful as He reigns from His heavenly throne room. Through this line in the prayer, we are reminded that we do not know everything. Our trust must be in our heavenly Father.

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, thank You for showing us how to pray, may we always put You first. In Jesus name we pray, amen.