November 30
'And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.’ John 14:13
Bible reading: Luke 11:1-13 (Go to the Bible passage)
The disciples were all devout Jews who had been taught how to pray from an early age. But since they had heard Jesus pray, they understood that genuine praying is quite different from sending up beautiful religious thoughts. Therefore, one of them said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray,’ whereupon Jesus gave them many guidelines (Matthew 6:6-9) and finally an example.
He did not give a standard prayer, but an example to help them approach God with the proper mindset. Therefore He said, ‘This, then, is how you should pray’ (Matthew 6:9), which means: ‘in this way’, and not ‘using exactly these words’. When we stop parroting the Lord’s prayer as a standard prayer, and learn to pray our own prayers with the mindset we can find in the Lord’s prayer – prayers out of a born again heart straight to God - then our prayers will become meaningful again, and we may trust we will receive an answer from heaven.
‘Hallowed be Your name’ means: when we focus our heart on God, we start by glorifying His name with praise and worship. ‘Your kingdom come’ means: when we pray to God, we should do so realizing that His kingdom will make way here on earth. This forms the foundation of a genuine submission of our will to His sovereign will. Therefore, it is good to bow down deeply before Him and profess reverently - not only with our heart, but also with our lips - that as in heaven, also in our heart His will be done…
When we pray in this way, it becomes almost self-evident that then our heart can only ask for things in which He will be glorified, and then Jesus will be able to do anything we ask for.

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