Jesus’ model prayer is not intended to be a mantra to be repeated mindlessly like the pagans do, but a framework around which, by allowing its principles to guide us, we build our fellowship with the Father and with His Son.
Jesus has given us the main principles that should concern us in our relationship with the Father. Of course, life is far more complicated than these considerations. However, we must never be overburdened by the details that so often are distractions from the real issues that should occupy our attention.
Let’s summarise what Jesus taught His disciples to focus on as they grew in their relationship to and fellowship with the Father.
I use these two words, “relationship” and “fellowship” purposely as distinct from one another.
“Relationship” refers to a settled state, based on our new birth, through the Holy Spirit. Through God’s grace, we have been moved out of slavery into God’s family as His sons and daughters. Once God has reinstated us, we can never be “unborn”. We can never lose our status as children of God…
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
1 John 3:1-2 NIV
…even if we sin…
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”
1 John 2:1-2 NIV
Since we are sons and daughters of the Father, we need not do anything to cultivate our relationship with Him.
However, our fellowship with Him implies our daily walk with Him in trust and obedience, in honesty and humility. We must keep the lines of communication open with Him by not allowing unbelief to lure us away from our fellowship with Him into independence and sinful behaviour.
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Micah 6:8 NIV
What can we do to maintain our fellowship with God?
“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”
1 John 1:3 NIV
The fellowship we share with each other in the body of Christ is based on our faith in Jesus, who He is and what He did. We share that same common ground with the Father because we all have the same relationship with Him through Jesus.
So, John says, we must maintain our fellowship with the Father, the Son, and with each other by our shared faith in Jesus and our honest and transparent lives with one another. He calls this “walking in the light.”
“If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
1 John 1:6-7 NIV
First, then, we don’t only share this fellowship through our faith in Jesus and all He is and does, but we also have fellowship with one another through our shared our interests and concerns in prayer.
Jesus taught us how to pray by giving us the guidelines that keep us focused on what is important to Him.
Praying together is a powerful force in the world. God knew that unity had power when He scattered the people in the ancient world because they acted together in rebellion against Him.
“Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.”
Genesis 11:4-6 NIV
Second, what are the main issues around which we share fellowship in prayer?
God is “our Father”, we are His family. We approach Him freely as His children. He is Father but He is holy. We give Him the reverence, respect, awe, and honour due to Him. We give our attention to what is most important to Him, His kingdom and His will on earth. We forgive one another to keep our fellowship with each other open and uncluttered by guilt and grudges. We take responsibility for our own wrongdoing and and ask for help in dealing with the sin nature that leads us astray.
Since the greatest commandment in the New Covenant summarises and simplifies the 613 laws of the Old Covenant…
“And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”
1 John 3:23 NIV
… it stands to reason that our unity be built around our faith in and obedience to Jesus as Lord and our love for one another as fellow members of His family. In this togetherness, we share His heart for the world, His kingdom on earth and our part in administering His kingdom in partnership with Him.