The Best Prayer Of All

The Best Prayer Of All

This, then, is how you should pray:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

Matthew 6:9

After having denounced showy and meaningless prayers, Christ introduced a splendid short prayer of his own. With it, he instructed us on how to pray and what we should pray for. He gave us a prayer that touches on a variety of needs. By themselves, these needs should compel us to approach God daily with these few, easily remembered words. None of us can excuse ourselves by saying we don’t know how to pray or what to pray for.

Praying the Lord’s Prayer every day is certainly a worthwhile habit, especially for ordinary people and children. We can pray it in the morning, in the evening, and at the dinner table—at any time for that matter. As we pray this prayer together, we bring our needs before God.

As has been said many times before, the Lord’s Prayer is the finest prayer that anyone could have ever thought up or that was ever sent from heaven. Because God the Father gave his Son the words for the prayer and sent him to introduce it, we know beyond a doubt that this prayer pleases the Father immensely.

Right at the beginning of the prayer, with the words “Our Father,” Jesus reminds us of what God demands and promises. God insists that we give him the respect, honor, and reverence he deserves, just as earthly fathers expect this from their children. Also, God the Father wants us to trust that he will meet our needs. We are overjoyed to be his children through Christ. And so, because we trust that he will give us what he promised, we can pray to him with confidence in the name of Christ our Lord.