‘This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name . . .”‘
Matthew 6:9
I have a confession.
This verse shouldn’t be the Daily Verse.
Matthew 6:19 should be.
When searching for the verse on the Interlinear version I use, I typed in 6:9 instead.
Rather than not storing up treasures on earth, Jesus teaches us how to pray.
The Lord’s Prayer as it is commonly known is obviously a staple prayer of the Christian faith, but I have been surprised by how many non-christians also know it by heart.
The Interlinear translation runs, ‘Father of us who [is] in the heavens . . .’
Father is straight forward, in Greek it is patér – father, parent – but of us is egó – I or me.
We are used to taking ‘Our Father’ to inidcate the Father of all of us, but Jesus’ prayer is actually father of me, or my father.
Jesus’ prayer is not a formulaic and remote prayer to an unseen deity, but a deeply personal prayer which begins with us speaking out ‘My Father’ who is in the heavens.
This prayer establishes our close and individual connection to our Heavenly Father.