| The Lord's prayer is recorded twice in the gospels. In Luke it was given to the disciples in answer to their request 'Lord teach us to pray'. One writer has said 'As far as we know this was the only thing the disciples ever asked the Lord to teach them. They never asked him how to perform miracles or how to organise churches. After they had seen Jesus praying, they realised that once they learned how to pray, all of these other things would come! Remember what we said when we started our readings in this Sermon on the Mount-Christ was speaking to the disciples first of all (Matthew 5:1-2) with the crowd listening in. So this was really the disciples' prayer. Christ gave them these words as a model for their prayer life. Stop and think about each phrase. Read them over slowly and then try and put each thought into your own words. For example 'Our Father which art in heaven' could be put this way 'Dear God, I am glad I can call you my Father. You are a great God but you are also my Father. I know your name is in heaven but I also know you are here with me right now.' Take each phrase and pray it over in your own words. Each one can be the text for a sermon or for a personal message for yourself. This is a family prayer. Notice how many times the word 'our' is used. Christ did not include himself here for several reasons. He always spoke of the Father as 'My Father'. Then he could never have said 'Forgive us our trespasses' because he never sinned and never needed forgiveness. Notice the closing words 'Thine is the kingdom ...'. Here we recognise the Lordship of Christ. He is king now in God's sight and should be the same for us. One day all the world will recognise his Lordship. We can show the world just what this means. Spend time on this prayer. Think it through. Ask Christ to help you. Pray the disciples' petition again 'Lord teach me to pray'. | 
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