Origin, history and meaning of the Our Father

One of the disciplines that Jesus had during his ministry on Earth was prayer. Through this article you will learn about the origin, history and meaning of Padre nuestro in Christianity and how to pray correctly?

Padre nuestro

During the life and ministry of Jesus Christ one of the disciplines that impacted his disciples was the perseverance, dedication and discipline that Jesus had with prayer. He narrates the Gospel of Mark as our Lord Jesus Christ got up at dawn to have communion with God. This is only possible through prayer.

Mark 1: 35

³⁵ Getting up early in the morning, while it was still very dark, he went out and went to a deserted place, and there he prayed.

Similarly, in the Gospel passage from Luke 11, we can assume that the disciples were seeking the Lord Jesus Christ. This biblical passage tells us that they found Jesus praying in a secluded place. They were so impressed by the discipline, perseverance, dedication and time that Jesus Christ gave to prayer that they decided to ask him to teach them how to pray.

Lucas 11: 1

¹ It happened that Jesus was praying in a place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him: Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

Our Father: model given by Jesus

Faced with the concern of the disciples to ask the Lord how we should pray, the Lord presents them with a model of prayer. The Our Father does not mean that it is a prayer given to be repeated as many followers of Christ tend to do. The Word of God warns us that the vain repetitions are not listened to by the father.

Matthew 6: 7

⁷ And praying, do not use vain repetitions, like the Gentiles, who think that by their talk they will be heard.

The Lord Jesus Christ warns us that we should not use these repetitions believing that while we do them our Father listens. It makes no sense to repeat the Our Father like a litany. On the contrary, we must know what meaning each of his phrases has.

In this sense, the Lord does not listen to prayers for the number of words that some Christians may say. Nor is it the time he spends in prayer, much less the number of words. The important thing is the quality of the sentence. In this sense, Jesus Christ does not use the Our Father so that his disciples repeat it constantly, but it is given to us as a model to follow in our prayers.

Matthew 6: 5

⁵ And when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in synagogues and on street corners, to be seen by men; I swear you that the have already got their reward.

Repeating the Our Father would contradict the teaching that Jesus left us in Matthew 6:7. We insist that it is a model of prayer. As a pattern for us to know the important elements that must be considered when praying.

Now, if someone or some Christian wants to raise the Our Father in prayer, there is no problem, but it should not be done by heart. On the contrary, it is truly necessary to learn what each phrase of the Our Father means.

Jesus of Nazareth prayer example

By scrutinizing the Word of God we can realize that the disciples never asked the Lord to teach them to cast out demons, to walk on water or to multiply bread. Nor were they asked to know how to learn to develop power.

In this sense, it is noteworthy that the disciples realized that the power of a Christian is centered on the communion that can exist between a disciple and God. This communion is only possible through prayer and holiness.

John 17: 4-5

⁴ I have glorified you on earth; I have finished the work you gave me to do.

⁵ Now then, Father, glorify me by your side, with that glory that I had with you before the world was.

Communion can be achieved through prayer and holiness. In this fellowship is where our Heavenly Father has hidden the spiritual power of his children. The success of Christ's earthly life was found in those moments of fellowship he had with his Heavenly Father.

The body given to Faith

Throughout history we have been able to observe how some church groups have preached that the power of God occurs instantaneously. This is very far from the truth. Preaching these arguments saddens the heart of our heavenly Father. Holiness and spiritual power are only possible through daily communion with our God. In other words, it is through a life consecrated to God. There can be no power behind a life without holiness.

At some point we may have a special anointing from the Holy Ghost or a revelation. But that is a particular moment. However, this moment does not last forever, nor forever. The next day the Christian must seek that communion with God and take care of his holiness.

Acts 3:16

¹⁶ And by faith in his name, to him, whom you see and know, he has confirmed his name; and the faith that is through him has given him this complete healing in the presence of you all.

You have to present your body as a living sacrifice daily. It is necessary to go daily on your knees to an encounter with your Heavenly Father. We have to depend daily on the power of God to survive. It is very important, because most Christians have abandoned the practice of daily prayer.

Our Lord and Savior

The first thing that Jesus teaches us is to know how to turn to God. The first thing our Lord introduces is the phrase Our Father. In this case, the first thing we must learn is that every Christian, after accepting our Lord Jesus Christ as our God and Savior, heaven assigns us, grants us a power, a right, an authority that not all human beings have, affirmation that is read in John 1:12. To all of us who have received the Lord in our hearts, he has given us the prerogative of being called children of God.

Filipenses 3: 20

²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

This makes it clear to us that according to the Word of God, not all human beings are children of God. The Bible says before we were Christians, God was our Creator. We are all creatures of God, but according to the Bible not all of us are sons and daughters of God. It is important for the Christian to know that he has entered into a filial relationship with the Creator of the universe.

Now I can call him Father or cute daddy, Abba Father. This filial relationship allows us to approach and speak to him as a true Father. By establishing this correlation we understand that our spiritual Father is the author and originator of our spiritual life

Children of God

When we accept Christ in our lives as Lord and Savior we must understand that we become his children and that our soul has been freed from sin. The apostle Paul writes because you have not received the spirit of slavery as read in the following verse:

Romans 8: 15

¹⁵ For you have not received the spirit of slavery to be in fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption, by which we cry: Abba, Father!!

In this verse it makes clear to us that we are adopted children of our heavenly Father. And he reveals to us that from our birth we had a spirit within us of fear, so before receiving the Lord we hid from his presence.

false religions

When Adam and Eve rebelled against the Lord, they allowed sin to enter the world and from that moment they hid from the presence of the Lord. This action made them disconnect from heaven and their offspring, understood by each one of us, began to live far from the Lord. However, as they came to know God, they created different beliefs around his image, which are known today as false religions.

Ephesians 4: 14-15

¹⁴ so that we are no longer fluctuating children, carried everywhere by every wind of doctrine, by the stratagem of men who cunningly use the tricks of error to deceive,

¹⁵ but by following the truth in love, we grow up in everything into him who is the head, that is, Christ,

Religions are ways of seeking or rediscovering the presence of God. Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and other beliefs are futile efforts to re-establish communion with God.

All this makes us conclude that the human being throughout history has had a void that he has tried to fill through rituals and vain beliefs. Many have come to make works of their own hands such as images of wood, gold and ceramics. If we carefully read the Word of God, it tells us that we have been created in the image and likeness of God, this means that we are spirit and in this way we can worship our God in spirit and in truth.

The Only Begotten Son of God

It is in our spirit that we can show fidelity, holiness and adoration. When reading the Holy Scriptures we discover that in the Christian we can say Father to our Creator. Because now he has adopted us according to his Word.

However, the Word warns us that the only son of God is Jesus Christ. If we analyze the word “only begotten” we find that its meaning in the Greek means "monogenes which translated is reflected as “the only one in the family”. He says the word that we are children but adapted. An example to clarify this definition is that a child product of a relationship within a marriage is a legitimate child now well when we go to an orphanage and adopt a child.

John 3: 16-17

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.

¹⁷ Because God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world would be saved by him.

Our Heavenly Father adopted us and placed us in the position of sons. By searching the Bible we find that God has us as an inheritance. The word inheritance means to have been placed with the privileges of a true son, which is why Jesus Christ is called our elder brother Son. But we must make it clear that Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God simply because he has the essence of God and is God in the flesh. Before we had only been created by God in other words. We were a spirit created by our Heavenly Father but now we are part of his family.

Now when we pray we may not understand what it is. the meaning of the Our Father. Next we will explain phrase by phrase so you can understand What is the Our Father?

Analysis of the Our Father prayer

Many times Christians believe that repeating the Our Father is enough. This prayer contains great mysteries. Below we present an analysis of each of the phrases that make up this powerful prayer.

Padre nuestro

Now when we analyze the sentence "Our father" we find different explanations that perhaps at first glance we have not detailed. When Jesus Christ begins the prayer by saying "Our father" He adds an adjective, ours, which means that he is not only his Father, but that he is our Father, covering the need we have to get closer to him.

When Jesus was among us, he made us see in a thousand ways the importance of seeking the face of God through prayer. However, as Christians we must think and work for our neighbor, which means that when we are praying we must not do it only for our needs, but for each one of our brothers.

Similarly. The Bible urges us to pray for each one of the authorities of our churches, for the sick and for each one of those people who have not known or confessed the Eternal God.

Matthew 6: 9

⁹ After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

that you are in heaven

After recognizing our filial relationship with our Father and knowing that the Most Holy God is the Father of all disciples and believers, we must also keep in mind that our God is not on this planet. But according to our Father the Lord is in heaven.

This reminds us that if we are going to ask for help, we cannot do it thinking that we are going to find answers on Earth, but we must pray knowing that the answers to our afflictions are only found in heavenly abodes. Which is where the Lord hears each of our prayers.

When we say that you are in heaven“We are acknowledging that we need help outside of this world, that is Faith. Faith is believing that if someone is going to help you in your marriage, in your problems, in any ailment, there is no one but God who is in heaven.

the declare “you are in heaven” it is a confession of submission and acceptance which focuses on the fact that we are acknowledging that Jehovah is greater than all of us and our ailments. The enunciate "Our Father, who is in heaven" it is to confess that I turn to you because the help my soul needs can only come from you. As Christians we should only confess and trust in the Lord.

When we fall into the sin of believing and trusting someone other than the Lord, it will hurt us and we will fall into constant anxiety for not having followed God's instructions. When you trust in money, friends, politicians and false doctrines it leads us according to the Word of God to the curse.

Isaiah 30:1

¹ !!Woe to the children who turn away, says Jehovah, to take advice, and not from me; to cover themselves with a covering, and not from my spirit, adding sin to sin!

If we read this article carefully we will understand that the verse begins with an expression of pain. So God calls us to place trust in what is in heaven and not in what is on Earth. A clear example of what the Lord refers to is idolatry, since in the Bible he exhorts us not to create or worship images that seek to demonstrate what is in heaven.

Hallowed be thy name

This is the second statement that Jesus makes while teaching the apostles to pray. He reminds us that God's name is Holy. The word sanctified comes from the Greek word ““hagiaso” which means separate or different. So the meaning that can be given to the sentence "Hallowed be thy name" en Your name is separated by holiness, which is intimately related to purity.

When we refer to the purity or holiness of the Lord, we mean that He is sinless. We must remember that God made us in his image and likeness and that he asks us to resemble him at all times.

Leviticus 19: 2

² Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: You shall be holy, because I am the LORD your God.

When we make the decision to live by and for Christ, thanks to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we can come a little closer to the sanctification that God asks us to have. So it automatically makes us completely different human beings emotionally and spiritually.

As Christians we sometimes do not understand the importance of words. When we express that the name of God is Holy, we are referring to and accepting that there is no other name under heaven or earth by which we can be saved.

Acts 4:12

¹² And in no other is there salvation; for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

The two affirmations that we carry in these three sentences make us understand that when we refer to Jehovah we are mentioning that we as Christians know of the Omnipotence and Supremacy, that God has had, has and will have for ever and ever.

Let your kingdom come

With this request we declare that when we are praying we must be aware that the kingdom of God is within us. As the Holy Spirit of God dwells in us and his kingdom is with you and with me. Now, you must have fellowship and holiness with our heavenly Father. Remember that God does not dwell in sin, nor in filth.

Matthew6:10

¹⁰ Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.

Today many false religions claim that the kingdom of God the Father is on Earth. This is completely far from reality, since if we study, understand and analyze the Word of God we will understand that his kingdom is being exercised by each one of us Christians in spirit.

1 Peter 2:9

⁹ But you are a chosen lineage, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired by God, so that you may announce the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;

One of the greatest teachings that the Lord is giving us and perhaps many Christians do not know, is that he is training us to govern and exercise functions as governors in the new world.

Thy will be done

When the Christian prays, he must keep in mind that beyond our requests and our needs, we must accept that God's will be done in our lives, no matter what it is. When the Lord listens to our prayers he begins to direct our lives according to his perfect plan for each one of us. A mistake that many Christians make is to look for brothers of the Faith for advice, which can be very dangerous, since they can end up doing his will and not God the Father's.

One of the clearest examples of acceptance of God's will is when he chooses Mary to carry in her womb and give birth to the Son of God. The Lord chose her because she was a woman who devoted her entire life to respecting Jehovah's laws and her heart was willing to listen to her call.

Matthew 6: 6

⁶ But you, when you pray, go into your room, and shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you in public.

When the Angel gives her the news that she was the chosen one to have the son of God. Maria felt afraid, because she was a human being like us. But she answered bravely, thy will be done in me. Mary knew that she was facing opprobrium, criticism and slander from the society in which she lived, but despite all this, the love she felt for God made her accept the Lord's commands.

When we accept that the will of God be done in us we find the grace of the Lord since it lies in the middle of the center the will of Christ.

Give us today our daily bread

When Jesus Christ is teaching us”Give us today our daily bread" It refers to daily bread, it is not talking about weekly or monthly food. The Lord Jesus Christ establishes in this prayer, what we must ask the Father for the daily help that he provides us daily. Our prayers cannot be lost in requests that are going to be a week from now, a month from now, but what is going to happen on a day-to-day basis. Since Jesus urges us not to worry about tomorrow.

As we approach the Lord in prayer let us remember that He wants us to know that we depend on Him daily. If our prayers focus on what may happen later, we are doubting that God remembers us and we can even think that he may be unable to support our needs. When we do not pray for the day but for the one that may pass, the Lord sees it as an act of little faith, so we can move away from his grace.

Éxodo 16: 4

⁴ And the Lord said to Moses: Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people will go out and collect a day's portion daily, so that I can test whether it is in my law or not.

In this passage we see how the Lord calls the people of Israel to trust Him by gathering only the manna portion of the day while they were in the desert. We can understand that in our need for human beings we feel that we must prepare for a future full of uncertainties, but we must remember that Jehovah is my shepherd and I will lack nothing. Therefore, we should not be anxious, or sad, or thinking about tomorrow, we must place all our trust in the Lord and daily we will see how he will give us everything we need.

When the Jews dared to gather more manna, fearing that God would not provide them with more food, this manna was corrupted. This means that God wants us to depend on Him daily.

forgive our offenses 

At the time of praying it is necessary that we reflect, review and expose our hearts. This in order to realize how we are leading our Christian lives. What we are referring to is that we must find out how we are leading our intrapersonal relationships and if they are in accordance with the will of the Lord.

If God the Father sent his only Son to be beaten, tortured and crucified on Calvary's Cross so that our sins would be forgiven. For what reason human beings forgive means an act of weakness and difficult execution. When we read the Holy Scriptures we realize that the Lord gives us the mandate to forgive and love our neighbors, these mandates do not contain taglines or additions, this means that no matter what we must do.

Mark 5: 23-24

²³ Therefore, if you bring your offering to the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you,

²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar, and go, be reconciled first with your brother, and then come and present your gift.

So much so that Jesus stressed to each of his apostles that to enter the presence of the Lord we must be completely sure that we do not have any account of forgiveness or love with our neighbors so that our prayer is sent by the Holy Spirit to be heard by Jesus.

Do not let us fall into temptationn

When in our prayer we ask the Lord to “Do not let us fall into temptation", we are asking him to separate us from anything that does us harm. A clear example is when Jesus is praying on Mount Gethsemane and asks God the Father to set aside this cup for him, referring to the hours that would come before him, but he also accepts the will of the Father.

Mark 14: 36

³⁶ And he said: Abba, Father, all things are possible for you; take this cup away from me; But not what I want, but what you want.

When we refer to avoiding falling into temptation, we are accepting that without Him we cannot lead a life of sanctification. We are acknowledging that we have weakness in the flesh and that we need his divine intervention to be able to overcome these instigations of the enemy.

Temptation is the way the enemy has to make us stumble on the path that Jesus has marked out for us. We must remember that the evil one is the god of this world and that he will not mind doing anything to make us lose Faith in God the Father. Daily communion with the Lord is of utmost importance to avoid falling, since God gave us the power to subdue sin thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary.

And deliver us from evil

It is important to understand this prayer as the request that we make to the Lord to free us from every dart that the enemy throws at us. However, we must understand as Christians that we are that we must each fulfill his mandates, live in his path and proclaim him as our God and Savior so that he frees us from all evil. However, if we stray from his path, Christ will not be able to protect us since we are allowing sin to reign in our lives.

By subduing sin fulfilling the will of the Lord, we are going to see how God is giving us the strength to pray harder and harder against evil, this type of prayer is called war. Which focus on the spiritual battles that rage in the heavens.

Amen

It is the transliteration, which is the exact way in which a certain word is represented in its original language, in this case it is Hebrew. Amen translates as "so be it" and was used in many biblical verses where they assured us of the acceptance of both blessings and oaths that were given in the Old Testament. With the coming of Jesus, the Son of God, the word "amen" was used in the Gospels for the affirmation that his statements are the truth.

In a broader study of the word we realize that Jesus is also called "the Amen" within the Holy Scriptures, specifically in the Apocalypse, when John refers to Him as the reliable and true witness of God.

Revelation

What is prayer?

Now, the Our Father is a prayer, but what does this mean? Prayers can be defined as the connecting bridge between us and Christ. Through prayers we can ask, praise, bless, thank and talk to our Father about each of the afflictions that our heart has.

1 Timothy 4:10

¹⁰ That for this very reason we work and suffer opprobrium, because we hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe

One of the things that we have to keep in mind when entering into prayer with God is that we must have the Faith that Jesus will listen to each of our prayers to deliver them to the Father. We have to have our hearts with God and a close communion to seek answers to each of my prayers.

A who we pray in the Our Father

As Christians we refer to God as Creator, Father, Jehovah, among others. Now then, in the Old Testament, the Lord reveals his name to Moses as Yahweh, which is I Am He who I Am, they also called him Elohim (Creator God), Jireh (which means that our God will provide).

Also, they called him Adonai (my Lord) so each Jew gave him their prayers under this name. We also know him as Heavenly Father, the Eternal God, our Redeemer, our Savior, our Most High God, among others. The Lord reveals the Holy Name of him.

Exodus 3: 13-14

¹³ Moses said to God: Behold, I come to the children of Israel, and say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you. If they ask me: What is his name?, what will I answer?

¹⁴ And God answered Moses: I AM THAT I AM. And he said: Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: I AM sent me to you.

It is important to know these names because as Christians we must avoid making mistakes when praying. For example, if we refer to the god of the world we would be referring to Satan, a title that Jesus gave him. When we refer to God we must have in our hearts the Name that is above all names.

1st John 5:19

¹⁹ We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the evil one.

Now, we Christians have a name given to us by our filial parents. In this sense, those of us who receive him are children of God. The Word of God in Revelation says that we will be given a small stone with a new name. That is, we will have a different name, spiritual. Just as he changed Simon's name to Peter, Saul to Paul, we too will have a spiritual name.

Let us remember that in the Bible the names reveal the spiritual character of the person. Likewise, the name of our God reveals his character.

Structure of the Our Father prayer

One of the wonderful things that Jesus left us while he was on Earth was the structure of how we Christians should approach each other in order to pray. No matter what prayer you want to make to the Lord, it is always advisable to follow this structure since our Savior left it to us.

Apocalipsis 2: 17

¹⁷ Let him who has an ear hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it.

• be grateful: when you begin your prayer you must show gratitude for each of the things that the Lord gives you and for the opportunity you have to be able to approach his Throne to establish communication with Him
• Submit your will to His: we are beings who like to be in control of absolutely everything, so when they tell us to submit our will to the Lord's it causes us a little fear, since we do not know what His Perfect Plan is and we must leave everything under His control .
• Request: At this point of prayer we tell God the Father what is the reason for our prayer, no matter what the desire is, we must remember that the Lord, thanks to the Holy Spirit, knows what each of our desires are
• The forgiveness: When we are praying to the Lord, we must understand that forgiveness is a fundamental aspect that we need in our lives to maintain a united communion with the Lord. When we ask for forgiveness we are assuring that we know that we are weak in the flesh and that we have sinned sometimes without knowing.
• God's Protection: As Christians we know that only God can anoint us and protect us from any evil or dart of the enemy, that is why when we are in a process of prayer and communion with God we must ask for protection for ourselves and each one of the people around us, the church, rulers, sick, among others
• Thanks, Dad: we give thanks entering and leaving prayer because in his presence is the joy of the true Christian, we should give thanks because we know that we have been heard and that each of our prayers will be answered.

When we pray, let us do it for each one of us Christians, pastors and the church of the Lord, let it not be a selfish prayer, but a collective one. Let us have the faith that God listens to our desires and that he will always be with us to answer the prayers of our hearts.

There will be times when we feel that our prayers are not answered, let us take into account that God has a perfect plan for us and that on many occasions our desires will not enter into what God has destined for us.

Body position to pray to God the Our Father

Physically speaking there is no right or wrong way to pray, however we must take into consideration and remember that we are praying to our Father, our Creator and Founder, so when we pray we Christians put our lives in his hands.

There are several physical ways of praying, which are:

• Standing: it is a bodily expression that indicates respect for the authority that God is for us.
• Seated: when we pray sitting leaning forward we do it to listen to our interior and the desires of the heart.
• On knees: it is a position that shows in which we recognize that we are completely dependent on the authority of the Lord Jesus.

Types of prayer other than the Our Father

When we study the Holy Scriptures we realize that there are many types of prayer, which we are going to use for different moments. Among them we get in the Bible, not including the psalms are the following:

Prayer of Faith:

It is one of the prayers best known by Christians, in the Holy Scriptures it was used by the apostles for the healing of the sick. When we refer to a prayer of Faith, we make an affirmation that although we cannot see the Lord, we know that He works for each of us.

Faith is what we Christians live with knowing that the Lord sent his only Son to die for our sins and we were saved. Faith is what drives each of us to believe that Jesus is coming a second time and that each of us will be with him in glorified bodies and in an eternal kingdom.

Mark 9: 23

²³ Jesus said to him: If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.

prayer for intercession

One of the commandments that the Lord Jesus left us is to love your neighbor as yourself. If we pray for ourselves, we must do it in the same way for our brothers. When praying we always ask for ourselves, for our health, safety, well-being, happiness, among others.

This prayer is precisely so that just as you pray for yourself, you do so for that brother who is in need. Pray for that person who has not yet heard God's call. Pray for the sick in hospitals or for those who have nothing to eat.

Prayer by common consent

The Lord told us that when there are two or more gathered in his name He will be there, we must understand that God never abandons us and is always willing to listen to each of our prayers.

When we are in prayer groups it is necessary to agree on why we are going to pray, this will make the hearts of each one of the brothers who are in communion with God at that moment have the same reason for prayer.

Facts 1: 13-14

¹³ And entered, they went up to the upper room, where Peter and James, John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas brother of James lived.

¹⁴ All these persevered with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and with Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

thanksgiving prayer

This prayer particularly focuses on the things for which we should be thankful each and every day. We must remember that there are people who are less fortunate than us and that we must pray for the regeneration of those hearts so that they join in praise with God.

Philippians 4: 6-7

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but let your requests be known before God in all prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving.

⁷ And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

The prayers in adoration

These prayers are characterized by being full of joy, reconciliation and love. Generally we can find them as songs inside the churches. Since humanity existed, the Lord has been sung and danced as a way to show how grateful we are for each of his blessings and care for us, the chosen people of God.

Let us listen to our hearts and ask according to our requests and desires. No matter the afflictions of our hearts, we must always seek to please the Lord. When we praise, sing and dance we rejoice the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The petition prayer

It is a prayer that is loaded with many feelings and emotions, they are the ones that are constituted by each of our desires. As Christians we know that God knows each of our hearts and what are the desires that abound in it. When we enter into prayer of petition we must be honest and sincere with the Lord since he knows our thoughts and we cannot deceive him.

When making a prayer request to the Lord, we must do it with a willing heart and humiliated before the greatness of our Christ the Redeemer. To ask for something we must have clear accounts with the Lord, we must always repent for each of our sins and seek constant communion with our Lord.

The prayer of consecration

This is the most important prayer a Christian should pray. In it we give our lives to God, we accept him as our Savior and we tell him in a conscious way, with joy and happiness in our hearts, that we have to decide under his mandates, on his path and that we accept the will he has for us.

By accepting the will of God we understand it as that we no longer have control over our lives. And this has been taken by our creator, sometimes it will make us walk through fire, but we must have the confidence that at every step He will be there to show us his fidelity and his unconditional love for each one of us.

Matthew 26: 39

³⁹ Going a little further, he fell on his face, praying and saying: My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; but not as I want, but as you.

Authority of prayer in the Our Father

When we study the New Testament one of the great distinctions it has is that for the first time in the Bible a wonderful statement is made:

John 14: 13-14

¹³ And whatever you ask of the Father in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

¹⁴ If you ask anything in my name, I will

It must be remembered that in the Old Testament when praying, the prayers were for Yahweh, which translates as I am He who I am, which refers to Jehovah, but after the arrival of Jesus on Earth, the authority of the prayer it passes into His hands. Nothing comes to the Father except through Christ.

Only those of us who have been born again, and those of us who have accepted the life of Jesus into our lives, have the authority to pray. When we choose this path, God sends us the Holy Spirit and it is He who guides us, trains us, enables us and gives us the power when we pray.

The importance of seeking God in the Our Father

We human beings since the foundation of the world seek to connect with something divine. We Christians are always searching for our Truth, our Way, and our Life. Now, why do we have this need to seek God?

Ecclesiastes 3:11

¹¹ He made everything beautiful in his time; and he has placed eternity in their hearts, without man being able to understand the work that God has done from the beginning to the end.

This verse represents the answer to our previous question, when we analyze this verse very closely we realize many things. The first is that eternity is placed in our hearts, this means that since we are born we know that there is something greater and more powerful than us.

Isaiah 1:3

³ The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's manger; Israel does not understand, my people do not have knowledge.

On the other hand, we see that we are of a very limited mind and wisdom compared to that of Christ, since we have failed to understand the meaning of the work that God did in the world. The little capacity that human beings have to understand the wonders of the world is so great that even God himself compares us to animals, showing us more inferior since at least they recognize what the perfect work of the Lord is.

With the Holy Spirit we must enter into communion with the Lord. We must understand that our connection with the Lord is spiritual, so we must feed our spirit to be strengthened. The stronger we are, the more abundant each of our prayers will be.

Romanos 8: 26-27

²⁶ And in the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for what we should ask as appropriate, we do not know, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unspeakable groans.

²⁷ But he who searches the hearts knows what the intention of the Spirit is, because according to the will of God he intercedes for the saints.

In these passages the apostle Paul is referring to us Christians. That although we have received the Lord as our God and Savior our flesh remains weak. We must understand and know that our flesh will always be tempted to fall into temptation and that there is nothing that can change that. Blessed are those Christians who have understood this and who have never been able to trust the flesh again and live close to the Lord.

Another of the characteristics that we visualize in the previous verse is that Paul informs us that in order to pray we must have the Holy Spirit that is obtained thanks to constant communion with Christ. This happens because my humanity, or the flesh, is not the one that is connected to the heavens but it is my spirit that feeds on the Holy Spirit.

When in the verse it expresses that the Holy Spirit intercedes with unspeakable groans, it refers to the fact that they are groans that cannot be pronounced. On the other hand he makes sure once again that the spirit is the one that is groaning for us.

Romans 8: 30

³⁰ And those whom he predestined, these he also called; and whom he called, these he also justified; and whom he justified, these he also glorified

In short, the Holy Spirit is the one who brings to God the deepest desires of my heart. This means that when we are in such difficult times it is not necessary to express a word since as true children of God, the Holy Spirit rises and tells Jesus each of our ailments.

3:14

¹⁴ And he writes to the angel of the church in Laodicea: Here is the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation, says this:

Comparison of the Lord's Prayer in the Gospels

We already know that the Our Father is the prayer that Jesus used to teach his disciples how to pray. In what is known as Christian literature we find three forms of this prayer, two belonging to the New Testament and the other to the Didache.

The Didache is known as a Christian literary work that could be accommodated in the middle of the second half of the first century, they are nothing more than the teachings of the twelve apostles of Jesus.

When we make the comparison, three main conclusions can be drawn:

1. It is the same sentence.
2. The prayer of the Gospel of Matthew and the Didache are the most similar.
3. The prayer presented in the Gospel of Matthew is the longest.

Another of the notorious differences between the presentation of the Our Father prayer is in the historical moment in which they were found. In the Gospel of Matthew the prayer is taught by Jesus in what is known as the Sermon on the Mount. Here Jesus refers to the righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees. Another characteristic of the presentation of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew is that he teaches us that offerings, prayers and fasting should be exclusively for the eyes and ears of God.

For his part, Luke presents the prayer in the midst of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem. The apostle shows us the importance and example of Jesus at the time of prayer and how his disciples asked for instructions on how to pray to the Father.

Our Father in children

If we have the blessing of being parents, it is important to raise our children under God's commands. It is good that they get to know the Lord from a young age so that in their hearts from an early age they have the Fear of God. Of course, we are not going to explain in such detail the importance of this sentence, since they are very complex issues which they are not going to understand or understand.

We recommend that you start with the fundamental things, Who is God? Who is Jesus?, the most outstanding and relevant things. It is a popular custom to teach the Our Father to children before they go to sleep. But let's remember that repetitive prayers are not listened to, so it is good that you cultivate the habit of prayer from a young age, it teaches how to be grateful, how to ask, how to seek God.

It is true that God affirms that heaven is the kingdom of children, but we must teach them the things for which God sent us to the world, salvation from sin, explain to your children that behaving badly displeases God and thus little by little you will to instill the fear of committing sin and stop pleasing God.

Result of prayer in our lives

Constantly praying with God brings fruit and rewards to our Christian lives.

Restoration of the heart

When we stop praying, our spirit gradually fades, so we move away from the path and from the shadow of the Lord. This is very common in Christians who have committed mistakes and feel ashamed to return to the presence of the Lord. But we must remember that God calls us and loves us as we are, the Lord tells us that we were made to serve and worship him. Although we know that God loves us and accepts us, we must overcome sin and dominate the flesh to be worthy to be in the presence of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 6: 5

⁵ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.

When we make the Christian life our own, we understand that we are beings of worship for God the Father. This means that our center is God and nothing is going to change it.

When I have been a Christian who has strayed from the ways of God, I must ask for the restoration of my heart, my mind and my spirit since I am aware that the things I have done displease me and take me away from the grace of God.

When we pray we are saying to Christ, I need you in my life, I can't handle my burden, forgive me, help me. We ask all these things with Faith since we have already lived and known the grace of Christ Jesus.

We confess our salvation

As prayer is the bridge we have to be able to talk to God, it is one of the ways we have to express our eternal gratitude for salvation. Many call themselves Christians but few have confessed Jesus Christ as God and Savior through prayer.

Romans 10: 9

⁹ that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

When we pray this prayer, let us remember all the things that we have read in this article, such as asking for everything in the name of God, having a repentant heart and wanting to make a change forever in our lives.

We managed to live in peace

One of the most rewarding and incomparable things about living with Christ Jesus in our lives is the Peace that we get to know thanks to Him. When we are in His presence, the tranquility, happiness, well-being and rest that we have is something that is difficult to describe.

When prayer is a constant and normal habit in our lives, the Holy Spirit fills us more and more and the anxieties and fears of this world are left behind. The Lord tells us in the Holy Scriptures in delicate pastures he will make me rest. Let us believe in this and in all the promises that God has made us.

Filipenses 4: 7

⁷ And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

Our Father knows that we have always needed Him, that is why He always exhorts us to look for Him, to pray to bless and praise Him, since without God we cannot achieve anything in our lives.

Prayer helps us in life

Sometimes Christians focus on earthly things, like money, work, pleasures and things that fill us with the flesh. When this happens our spirit contracts and goes out. When this happens we find that our concerns, insecurities and fears are increasing. It often happens that when things don't go as planned, we feel that God is against us or that he hasn't heard our prayers.

As Christians we must understand that our ways are not those of the Lord and that our times are not His. It is very easy to get busy and forget about all the promises that He has not made. That is why it is important to stay in prayer and fellowship with the Lord in order to understand and accept what is the purpose that he has for our life.

Romans 8: 38

³⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, that is, those who are called according to his purpose.

Goodbye to the past

Being a Christian makes us new, when we accept God in our lives, Christ forgets what our sins have been. The same happens when we pray and ask for our hearts to be completely restored. God listens to our pleas and is shedding us from that past that causes us so much damage and bitterness.

Salmo 51: 4

⁴ Against you, against you alone I have sinned,
And I have done evil before your eyes;
So that you are recognized just in your word,
And considered pure in your judgment.

When we do things that displease God we cannot change them, we have sinned and we must accept it. What Christ asks of us is that we accept whatever our sin may have been and that we humble ourselves before Him in order to be regenerated. God doesn't care about our past he just wants us to understand that HE is our Savior and live in Him.

Philippians 3: 13-14

¹³ Brethren, I myself do not claim to have already reached it; but one thing I do: certainly forgetting what is behind, and extending myself to what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the mark for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

makes us grateful

When communion with God is constant and absolute, we become aware of the little things in life. It may sound a bit poetic but it is the truth of those of us who live with God. The Bible asks us to be thankful for everything even if we take it for granted.

Sometimes we forget that there are people with many more limitations than us, if you can breathe, have a roof over you, if you can read this article on your computer or on your smartphone, eat three (3) or four (4) times a day, you don't have any disease and your family is united. Let me tell you that you are one of the lucky ones in this world. When we go to murmur about the things that we lack, let us remember all the things that God has given us. Let us pray and praise the Holy Name of him.

1 thessalonians 5:18

¹⁸Give thanks in everything, because this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Forgiveness enters our life

By constantly praying, the Holy Spirit is strengthened within us, which makes us look more and more like Jesus. When this happens, the action of forgiving in our lives becomes easy.

Forgiveness must be done with all the heart, this can not be half, or conditioned, or a time later. As true Christians we must completely forgive and discard any root of hatred or resentment that may remain in us from any action that has been done against us.

When we forgive our spirit is strengthened and we please God in a very big way. It is also good to remember that the Lord in his word tells us how many times we must forgive.

Matthew 18: 21-22

²¹ Then Peter came to him and said, "Lord, how many times will I forgive my brother who sins against me?" Up to seven?

²² Jesus said to him: I do not tell you up to seven, but even up to seventy times seven.

Another important manifestation when we forgive is love for others, since we stop holding rancor and resentment that can sow hatred and bitterness in my heart.

Mattheww 7:7-8

¹⁴ For if you forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;

¹⁵ but if you do not forgive men their offenses, neither will your Father forgive your offenses.

discard the criticism

When praying we realize that we have made many mistakes in our entire Christian life, such as criticizing. It doesn't matter what it is if we criticize one's shoes, makeup, clothes, the car, the way of expressing oneself, anything we are displeasing God.

When we pray we cut that bad habit and we can rejoice for being more like our Lord Jesus.

Matthew 7: 2

² For with the judgment with which you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure with which you measure, it will be measured to you.

Phrases of thanks to our Father

• Thank you Lord, because with you I have fought battles that I could not have won, thank you for keeping each of your promises to me and choosing me before I was born.
• Thank you our Father who has anointed my house, my family, my work, my friends, in my life I see your blessing, thank you Lord.
• Praised be my Lord, because You have regenerated each of my strength and my hopes. Thank you for showing me and reminding me which is the path you want me to follow
• Father, thank you for keeping me away from temptation, thank you for making me strong before the flesh and being able to continue according to the will you have for me.
• Thank you Lord because with you I have regained my security and my confidence, although I do not deserve your kindness and blessings, you always take care of me.
• God only you have been able to calm my soul and my ailments Lord, I don't know what I would do without you Father.

Prayer diary following the model of the Our Father

When we begin to pray, one of the mechanisms we can use to keep track of what we pray and what we want to pray is a prayer diary. This is made up of different prayers that we can find or listen to develop and improve our ability to pray.

It is important that when we are going to write down a prayer we must ask the Lord through the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom and understanding to know what pleases Him and what does not.

Materials to make a prayer journal

It can be a thick notebook that you can separate into several sections. However, we recommend that you use a folder to which you can add sheets so that you can have your prayer notebook for a long time without having to change it.

In addition to this you will need dividers, which can be bought or made by you, lined sheets in case you do not have a notebook, pencils, colors, pens, markers. All this will depend on your personal taste.

We recommend that you find a way to make it visually pleasing to you, as this way you will feel motivated to use it whenever you go to pray.

You should also look for a place that is your room to pray and we cannot forget the Bible, it is essential that when you go to pray you have the Holy Scriptures at hand since it is the Word of God and through it the Lord can communicate in a spectacular way with us.

How to separate your prayer book

First you must understand that this notebook is for your personal and exclusive use, so at this time we are going to give you recommendations on how you should separate it. If you see that there are missing or surplus categories that meet your needs, feel free to edit this proposal.

The mission of our life

It is the first section of our prayer notebook, in it we are going to make notes of what I want and what I believe is the mission that I have in life. I keep this life mission in the first part since I will pray daily for what I believe is my mission.

When we think about what we are doing in this world we must pray, just as Jesus taught us in our Father, so that it is the Holy Spirit who fills this unknown and not my flesh.

What are we doing in our life?

Genesis 1:31

³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

This verse will focus our question. If God reviewed how creation was, we should do it more with the decisions and the course we are taking.

We must always ask ourselves if the path we are taking is the path of the Lord. If our answer is full of doubts and questions, it is not the way and we must move away so as not to lose the grace of God.

Attributes by which I choose God as my Savior

We will use this part of our prayer book so that when we are in the presence of the Lord we use it to adore, bless and praise the God who has given us eternal life.

We choose God as our Savior because He is:

• Eternal
• Holy
• Unalterable
• Impassable
• Infinite
• Omnipotent
• Good
• Care
• Peace

It is important to remember that each of these attributes or characteristics is found in the Holy Scriptures. We invite you to study, analyze, search and understand the Word so that you can get more reasons why we should worship Christ.

Bible studies that I am doing

In this section I will place the Bible studies that I am conducting. It is important that we analyze and learn what the Bible tells us. We can look for help in books, dictionaries, virtual conferences, online or face-to-face courses. The important thing is that every day you do a little study that explains more and more about the word of the Lord.

We recommend that you search begin with the Gospel of John. In any case, there are many Bible study plans on digital platforms. Get one that suits you and your needs.

Dictionary of the words found within the Holy Scriptures

This section is very helpful when carrying out your biblical studies since in the Holy Scriptures there are words that we must study their eschatological origin, provenance, definition and integration of the word so that we understand the deep origin of some verse, sentence or text.

thank you for what you give me

To fill this section of your prayer notebook inspired by the Our Father, we recommend that you always have a small notebook with you and write down the little things that happen to you every day that you feel you should be grateful for. At the end of the day, transcribe them in your notebook and you will realize the many things that the Lord is giving you and when you pray, give thanks because God is always good.

We recommend that you write your prayers of gratitude daily so that you develop the ability to pray and strengthen our connection with God.

biblical resources

In this section I am going to place all the support material that supports my biblical studies, prayers and others. This will help us to have the textual references and when refreshing or consolidating knowledge, it will be faster and easier to search the bibliographic sources of our studies.

my daily prayers

Before specifying the prayers per day, we recommend that you place a Psalm that you extract from the Bible with which you feel identified, which makes you feel with your renewed strength and your heart ready to enter into prayer with God the Father.

For example, we recommend Psalms 27, which focuses on glorifying the immensity of our Lord and accepting how little we are with the rest of His greatness.

Psalms 27: 1-3

¹ Jehovah is my light and my salvation; who will I fear?
Jehovah is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?

² When the wicked, my oppressors, and my enemies gathered against me,
To eat my meats, they stumbled and fell.

³ Though an army encamp against me,
My heart will not fear;
Even if war breaks out against me,
I will be confident.

Weekdays

In this section, put the prayers you have said each day of the week, put the theme, the intention and the thanks for that day. We must remember that our Father rejoices when he listens to the prayers of his children and our Spirit is strengthened when we enter into communion with God.

Topics we want to cover

In this section of our prayer notebook you are going to place each aspect of your life that you want to enter into prayer such as the church, your family, your spouse, your children, your parents, your children, siblings. Any topic you want to include you will place it within this category.

Example of prayer according to the model of the Our Father

Padre nuestro

You who created the heavens and the earth

You who live and reign from above

I stand before your presence to recognize your majesty, your glory and your power.

Lord in Jesus name

I stand before your throne of grace and mercy

To once again recognize that only you have the power to forgive me

Wash me clean with your mighty blood

Do not take into account my faults Father

Cleanse me Lord with the blood of the Lamb of God

Have in me your perfect will

Develop in me the ability to subdue those passions that you do not like

May my whole being align to your precepts

I ask you in this hour Lord to open the heavens

May you pour blessings on me, my house. my family, my children

About work, bless oh God the works of my hands

Lord remove from us all danger

All evil and attack of the enemy

Let it be your power stopping all evil, all domain, all power

who wants to hurt us

Quench the darts of the enemy Father

Lord, I come to you because only in you is all my trust placed.

I surrender before your throne of graces, all my burdens, my concerns so that your powerful hand may reach out and take me by your hand until eternity.

Amen

Conclusions on the Our Father

After reading this article that tells us about the Our Father, its meaning and origin, we can conclude that God from the beginning urges us to seek him and ask for his mercy.

The Our Father is the model of prayer that Jesus left us when his apostles asked him for a guide to pray like him. It is a prayer that includes forgiveness, love, holiness, belief in the kingdom of God and the protection that the Creator gives us.

Another important point within the Our Father prayer is that Jesus acknowledges the existence of the Father. The phrase with which the prayer begins is "Our father" what ratifies us that God the Father exists, takes care of us and protects us from all evil. Although Jesus is the only Son of God, his time on Earth showed that he always prayed, since this is essential to be strengthened in the spirit.

One of the most outstanding affirmations that Jesus made in the Our Father prayer is that he made us understand that we Christians need Him daily. That means that our communion with the Lord cannot be a matter of one day yes, one day no. Jesus tells us "give us our daily bread", we must present ourselves in the presence of the Lord day by day.

Prayer makes our spirit stronger day by day in the Lord. When we accept Christ in our life, it is a decision that is forever and that we must assume with all the corresponding maturity. So we must ask our God for wisdom, understanding, strength and above all help to travel on this narrow path that is Christianity.

For you to continue in the presence of God we leave you the following link for your enjoyment Psalm 91

In the same way we leave you the following video to reinforce your communion with God