Christ Church Daily Devotion Feb 4 2024

In this Daily Devotion, the focus is on the Lord's Prayer found in Matthew chapter 6. The prayer emphasizes the importance of seeking God's will and asking for forgiveness. It is a community prayer that should be prayed with a sense of other Christians. The speaker encourages living out the prayer in daily life and reflects on the added line "For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever." The personal worship option is to join in worship and pray the Lord's Prayer together. Welcome to Christchurch's Daily Devotion for February 4th, 2024. Today we will be reading from Matthew chapter 6, verse 9 through 13. This, then, is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Yesterday we looked at this prayer in Luke's Gospel. Today we are reviewing it in the Gospel according to Matthew. This writer places it in the middle of what we commonly call the Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5 through 7. It is part of a section of teaching about giving to those in need, prayer and fasting. As with each section, the portion on prayer begins with teaching about not being like those who just want to draw attention to themselves. Then this prayer model is offered. After the prayer, Matthew includes additional teaching from Jesus about one part of it. Both Jesus and Matthew apparently wanted to emphasize the importance of both receiving and giving forgiveness. What lines in this prayer mean the most to you? How do you seek to live this prayer in your daily life? For instance, how do you try to live God's will on earth? How would you say your level of forgiveness compares to that offered to you by God? The pronouns used in this prayer make it a community prayer rather than an individual prayer. Our, us, we. Any time you are praying it, even when by yourself, I encourage you to have a sense of other Christians in your church or even the church around the world praying it with you. According to the Bible I am reading, the footnote at the Bible says that at some point this line was added to the prayer. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Yes, Lord. May I and all of us live as if we believe that. Your personal worship option today is to join us in worship today as we pray this prayer together.