Lesson Four • The Lord’s Prayer – Part One
Devotion 1: Loving God
Pastor John Carter
“‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”Matthew 22:36-39
This is a famously quoted passage of Scripture in the church. It may be news to some of you that Matthew is not where this originated from. Jesus, being the Living Word of God (John 1:1), is not afraid to point us back to the very powerful words of God in the Old Testament. In fact, you will find Jesus often referencing the teachings of Moses and the prophets in the New Testament.
Deuteronomy 6:5-7 is where the greatest commandment is first written down in Scripture, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
As we get ready to walk through the Lord’s Prayer, we are going to focus on two parts in the same way Jesus does in teaching us this manner in which we are to pray. This week, we will focus on when we pray in a manner that shows the Father how much we love Him, He is honored, worshiped, and revered as the God that He is in our life. This love of ours is going to be limited in comparison to the love the Father has for us, but as Scripture shows us, we are to demonstrate our love to the Father in a manner that involves all of our being – heart, soul, and mind. This is the greatest commandment given to the children of God, to love Him with all of our person.
Consider the word “all.” Have you ever considered what it would look like if you gave God all of you? Do you hold back in certain areas? How about the not-so-pretty areas or the areas we are ashamed of? I love that this commandment originates in the Old Testament because it shows me God’s expectation of worship has not changed. He desires that the church would worship Him in the same manner the Israelites did, with all of their person and being.
We are going to examine Matthew 6:9-10. It is known as the Lord’s Prayer. One thing you will see quickly is that the prayer begins with this understanding that it is all about God! He is first and primary! He is who is to be adored, worshiped, honored, feared, and reverenced.
Matthew 6:9-10 says, “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’”
Consider this as you are going about your day, “How do I worship God in prayer with all of my being or person – heart, soul, and mind?” I hope you are looking forward to diving deep into the things Jesus teaches us about prayer and how to do it in a way that pleases the Father.
It is going to be important to understand this about Jesus’ example of prayer; He is not saying pray in a ritualistic manner and just repeat these words after me. Every line of the prayer has a deep and impactful meaning to how we recognize who God is in our life. We will walk through these each day adding depth to the way we approach God, our Father.
The ultimate goal at the end of this is to know how to love God with all our being and person and be able to express that love in the facet of prayer.