Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. —Matthew 6:9-15

We were built to count, as water is made to run downhill. We are placed in a specific context to count in ways no one else does. That is our destiny. —Dallas Willard

Week 1: The Kingdom of Heaven is where what

wants done is done.

Heaven is a different place, a better place, a real place, a place where God rules and life is as God wants rather than as humanity has constructed.—Dr. Amy-Jill Levine

Week 2: Jesus sets up an ideal community with God as loving

of us all.

Jesus provides new “

” or guidelines for living into the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Week 3: You are salt and

. (Matthew 5:13-16)

It is not are we seen doing a good deed, but are we doing a good deed in order to be seen. —Dallas Willard

This Week: How to Pray

The purpose of prayer is not to get God’s

. We already have it. (Numbers 6:24-26)

Jesus said his followers are not to show off or try to

when we pray. (Matt. 6:5, 7-8)

God being the only Father

our relationships to our human families. (Matt. 6:9, Malachi 2:10)

To pray “Father” evokes

images: provider, protector, always loving and compassionate.

The Hebrew avinu, “Abba, Father” indicates the

of the relationship. (Galatians 3:26-28)

Jesus lived in a kingdom without democracy, ruled by an emperor and maintained by an

.

When the followers of Jesus talked about their Father in the heavens, they were making a political statement. The ‘father of the fatherland’ was not the ultimate authority; the Father in the heavens was. —Dr. Levine

The Kingdom of God does not

the kingdom of Herod Antipas (Galilee) or Pontius Pilate (Judea). (Matt. 6:10)

The “Our Father” is a

prayer that reminds us we are not all in the same place. (Matt. 12:50)

Sharing rather than

is the mark of a faithful functioning community. (Matt. 6:11, Exodus 16:4)

Those who share the same loaf, are part of a community that extends back into antiquity and forward to that heavenly banquet. —Dr. Levine

“Debts” is a synonym for “

.” (Matt. 6:12, Luke 11:4a)

“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” means if someone needs, another will

. (Matt. 6:13)

Do not bring us to the test [means] let us not be tempted to use our resources just for ourselves; let us not come to a place where we lord it over others rather than engage in servant leadership; let us not desire the splendors of the world rather than attend to its needs. —Dr. Levine

How forgiveness

: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matt. 6:14-15)

“Prayer for God’s forgiveness is unthinkable for one who is intentionally an unforgiving person. —Dr. M. Eugene Boring

We cannot

for ourselves what we

Reveal Answer

to others.

We pray for [God’s Kingdom] to take over at all points in the personal, social, and political order where it is now excluded: “On earth as it is in heaven.” With this prayer we are invoking it, as in faith we are acting it, into the real world of our daily existence. —Dallas Willard

Action Steps
Pray the Lord’s Prayer each

this week.

Take one

daily to participate in God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven.