 Okay. Good morning. Good morning and welcome. Good to be back to learn about prayer. Very, very important subject. So, we'll pray and then we will get into our teaching, discussions and all that. So, who would like to pray? I think today somebody can lead in prayer. Do you like to pray? Okay. Just pass the mic, please. Pass it to Sabita. Let's pray. Hello, Father. Thank you, my Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for this day and this time and this our new life. I surrender for us this guide with us, God, how can we give all us one such thing. Now, I'm studying and I surrender for ma'am, how can this to us? May well and goodness keep your knowing power. How can I understand with all us studying prayer and intercession circuit? I surrender for your name and Jesus's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. So, we will get back into our notes and we have talked so far about how to pray a prayer which is effective, how to pray a prayer that God hears in line with the word of God. So, that's what we talked about. We looked at the life of Jesus and said that Jesus gave us the pattern for a strong prayer life because if the Son of God had a strong prayer life, we are just human beings created in the image of God. So, how much more we need to have that kind of a prayer life to have a fellowship with God. So, all that we have seen and we saw some common questions why our prayers don't get answered and today we will go to the prayer that Jesus taught us. So, the disciples when they wanted to learn about prayer they went to Jesus and asked him, you know, master teach us how to pray and Jesus gave them a pattern. So, I'm sure you all are familiar. Which prayer will we talk about? The Lord's Prayer. Correct. It's known as commonly known as the Lord's Prayer. So, we have the Lord's Prayer in Matthew chapter 6 verses 9 through 13. So, if you would like to turn to it in your Bibles you can. Matthew 6, 9 to 13 and maybe one of us can read the whole section and then we will start explaining what it means. Yes, Matthew 6, 9 to 13. Full. This then is how we should pray. Our Father in heaven, hello 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 in the temptation but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive other people when they sin against you your heavenly Father will also forgive you. And after that verse 13 just read the full. But if you do not forgive others their sins your Father will not forgive your sins. Okay and then? When you fast do not look somber as the hypochrites do. For they disfigure their face to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you they have received their reward in full. But when you fast put oil on your head and wash your face. Okay. Yeah, thank you. So, that's fine. You've completed like you've read the whole entire passage but one line went missing. I don't know why. It says in the end for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen. So, that one line got skipped. It's not there in your translation. Okay, okay fine. Okay, let's just go through verse by verse. Now we've seen what the Lord's prayer is. Now before we get into understanding what the Lord's prayer is I told all of us that the disciples of Jesus they observe the life of Jesus. And when you look at the Jewish culture a disciple means somebody who follows the life of the master or the teacher. So, it's today the kind of teaching we have is people come they learn and they go back. However, in the Jewish culture what we observe is that people would really try to pattern their lives after the life of the teacher. So, that was true discipleship. So, that is what the disciples were of Jesus. So, the disciples of Jesus they saw the life of Jesus and they could have asked him any question, isn't it? How do you teach so well or you know what else? How do you do ministry so well? These are all questions that they could have asked Jesus but the main question which they asked him is, teach us how to pray. So, what does it tell us about Jesus and his life? They could have asked him any question but the question that they ask Jesus is, teach us how to pray. So, what does this tell us about the life of Jesus? Man of prayer, correct, okay? Man of prayer which means that every single day the disciples must have observed, isn't it? See, it's one thing for Jesus to say, okay all of you come I'll take a class, I'll teach you how to pray. There is value in that but what is happening here is the disciples have observed the life of Jesus and they are asking Jesus because you're so good at prayer, because you're praying all the time, because your relationship with the Father is so strong. Please teach us how to pray. Please teach us how to be like you in the area of prayer. So, it's a big thing for us to recognize that in itself is huge that Jesus was a man of prayer. So, no wonder people are asking him to teach them how to pray. So, then when they asked Jesus the question he gave this answer. He said, pray like this in this manner therefore pray, okay? How to pray? He goes on. 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 forgive our debtors and do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. So, Jesus told them, okay you pray like this and he gave some, you know, some key points for prayer. Otherwise, the disciples might have wondered, Jesus is sitting one hour, two hours, whole night, what he's talking to the Father? What are the things that he's discussing with the Father? So, Jesus gave them some points, some focus areas and said, you pray like this and he described it. Now, my question to you is, we all know the Lord's prayer, right? Hopefully by heart, all of us know by heart, okay? So, we say the Lord's prayer, we just say in different languages, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. So, we just say the whole thing. Is that enough? Is that enough to just say the Lord's prayer? Because we know it, Jesus said, pray like this, we know the prayer, we pray it, finished. Is that correct or is there anything more to that? No sister, no sister. It's already? It's only the pattern, okay, very good. So, it is only the pattern, which means that what Jesus is saying is, he's not saying repeat after me. Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name, like you just go on, right? Sometimes we don't even think, we just say it one time, twice, thrice, ten times and we feel like, okay, this is the prayer which Jesus taught us, we can just pray it and we can receive the answers. But where is the faith? Where is the, you know, where is, sometimes our will is also not involved because we're not even thinking about the prayer which we are praying. So, that's not the right way to just repeat the Lord's prayer or any other prayer also for that matter because that was not the intention of Jesus. What Jesus wanted us to understand is that this is a pattern, okay? And the pattern simply means that according to these points, I can pray, I can pray every day. Now, again, pattern doesn't mean only these points are everything. More than this also we can pray, but some basic pattern Jesus gave us. So, let us see what he was trying to communicate to us through this pattern. So, in the first line he said, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. That in itself is very powerful because till that time, the people, the Jews, the way they knew God was quite different. So, they used to go to the temple, make the sacrifices. They were in awe or reverence, fear of Almighty God because they knew how God led them out of Egypt, how God did mighty miracles, you know, through the history and even in the temple, the Ark or the Covenant and teaching the disciples to pray. How should we call God? What should we address God? Our Father, okay? So, that is the beginning of relationship. Without relationship, how do we even relate to God? Isn't it? So, begin by acknowledging the relationship which we have with God, our Father, our Father in heaven, okay? So, our Father in heaven refers to the first person of the Godhead. So, we know God is three persons in one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So, Jesus is teaching us to pray to whom? Pray to whom? Father, right? So, our Father in heaven and then he goes on to say, hallowed be your name. Hallowed be your name means that we adore God. Hallowed is, we exalt God, we magnify God, we lift up the name of God, okay? So, when we sit to pray, just think of it like this maybe. If you have, let's say, 50 minutes of prayer, the first 10 minutes, you can use the first point. What is that? You're acknowledging your relationship with the Father and then you are praising God, you're worshipping God. So, 10 minutes, what are you doing? Just praying along this line. So, even if we don't know how to pray, just use the Lord's Prayer pattern. First 10 minutes, spend in worshipping God. First 10 minutes, spend in thanking God, adoring God, right? So, that is how we do the first section of what Jesus taught us. Now, moving on to the second section here, in verse 9, okay, 10, he says, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So, what does this mean? Remember, we talked about authority. We can release authority through prayer. What did Jesus say? I've given you the keys of the kingdom, meaning, I've given you the authority of the kingdom, you can bind on earth, right? You can bind, you can lose on earth, which simply means all of us as believers are carrying some authority. We have to release that authority, right? Now, we will bind the things on earth which are not according to God's purposes. So, things like, okay, what will we want to bind? We will want to bind all evil, okay, evil, any work of evil spirits, anger, hatred, bitterness, disobedience, right? These are all things of the flesh. So, we want to bind these things. But what are the things we want to release or lose? Things of the kingdom, things like love, joy, peace, righteousness, purity, holiness, these are all things that we must release, right? So, now what do we do? We must pray in such a way that we are binding the things which are not of God and then we are releasing the things which are of God. Now, Jesus said, pray like this, your kingdom come. So, where is the kingdom of God established, 100% without any interference right now? You can be louder, heaven, okay, great, that's right because who is the king in heaven? God is the king, okay? And you can look at it this way, the picture of heaven. So, God is ruling and reigning in heaven, okay? There are all the hosts of heaven and the environment of heaven and the Bible teaches us a few things about heaven, how in heaven there is always peace, there's joy, there are no tears, okay? Seems like a beautiful place, isn't it? So, it's a wonderful place where the will of God is accomplished 100%. So, it's a beautiful place. Now, when Jesus is teaching us to pray, thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, what is the meaning of that? The kind of environment which is in heaven, we are using our authority to say, Lord, let it be done on earth, okay? That's very powerful because Jesus is telling us, you can pray the kingdom of heaven on earth. So, all the things which are of evil, those things can be uprooted, removed and the things of God can be established, okay? So, that is how we must pray when we spend time with the Lord. So, initially, maybe when we start the prayer, we are thanking God, we are acknowledging Him as our Father and everything, then you go on to praying, Lord, you rule and reign on the earth, the way you rule and reign in heaven. So, God does rule and reign on earth but do you remember we said God has given the earth to the sons of men? So, we are responsible for what is going on in the earth right now and that is why even though God is in charge in the broad sense, we are the stewards of the earth and so our authority matters, what we speak matters, right? So, we say, Lord, let your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. So, when we do that, we will see that the earth or our circumstances become more and more like how it is supposed to be in heaven. So, on earth, what is the problem? Like, in heaven, God rules and reigns, okay? And it's perfect. But on earth, what are the challenges? What do we have as a problem? Why is it not perfect, like heaven? Why do we have traffic jam and pollution and all these things? Why? We are in the natural realm, sister. We live in a natural realm. Okay. Okay, that's true because of us opposed to a ship, we didn't manage things well, handle things well, that's true. Anything else? Any other major issues? Why? Because of the government. Okay, we don't want to blame any government over here. Fine. Spiritual reason, give me a spiritual reason. I should be more specific when I ask the question. Very good. We have an enemy, the Bible says, right? You don't war against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, the spirits of wickedness. So, there is Satan and his demons who are also opposing what God intended for the world. That is why we have interference. In heaven, Satan cannot interfere. He can't go there. But on earth, he's interfering and not just that. When Adam and Eve sinned, what happened? God created the world perfect, right? So, everything should be perfect. Then what happened? Why is it not perfect? Sister creation fell. We had the fall of the creation. Satan, one answer, Satan. Correct. Fine. What is the other answer? Okay, we have the interference of Satan. Okay, he plays with our minds, all his games, right? Temptation, accusation, so many things he does. Fine. Accept it. What is the second reason I'm saying? Open, disobeyed. Correct. So, Adam disobeyed. That is correct. What happened as a result? He gave authority to Satan. Fine. So, then there is again same thing, interference of Satan. So, there is a second reason. Okay, I'll tell you. I'm just looking here at the comments of online students and Charles, okay, Charles stated something. I'm guessing it's not in line with the question that I'm asking right now. But Sanjay and Gertrude are saying, Fallen world or creation fell. That is correct. Okay. So, the second reason is, if you look at like Romans 8 and verse 21, it says that this earth to is now subject to corruption, meaning whatever was meant to be perfect, it's no longer perfect because sin has affected everything. Sin has affected everything. Sin has affected health, nature, you know, like absolutely everything here in the world. That's why things tend towards destruction and, you know, decay and all that. But in God's perfect world, that was not God's intention. But after Adam and Eve sinned, see, that's the problem with sin. Now we ask a question. Adam and Eve disobeyed once. God, only one mistake. You threw them out. What is this? You know, you shut the access to the garden and the earth was corrupted. Why? God, only one mistake they did know. You told them, don't eat from the tree of good and evil. They went and ate. Why did God treat them like that? Why did the world get corrupted? For one mistake. Any idea? And we are saying, the world is corrupted now. The earth is corrupted. You know, nothing is perfect anymore. Satan is interfering. So much has gone wrong. For one mistake, what is the reason? Yeah, yeah, disobeying, but only one know. That's right. So, see, we have to understand the nature of God. Okay, God is holy. So holy that even the slightest transgression, slightly missing the mark, is good enough to be like, you're just out of his plan. That's why the Bible says he's a righteous God. He wants us to be righteous. It's not about how big, how small, all that didn't matter. God is a holy God and they did something against the holiness of God. That's the problem. Okay, that's the way we look at it. So that was good enough. They dissipate and went against the holiness of God and God had to do justice. Right? What if God said, okay, no problem. You know, it's okay. You can be here. It's all fine. Where is justice? What is right and wrong? God is also God of justice. So he had to take action. He did it. Right? But we say, okay, what about God's compassion? Yeah, God is also compassionate. That's why he thought of Jesus. He did the just thing, but he gave an option. He said, okay, fine. Let us send Jesus and Jesus will redeem the world back into the perfection that the world was intended, designed to be in. You got it? So just some core concepts. So I know it's not exactly your prayer notes, but I'm just sharing so that we can understand. Okay? So the earth got corrupted. And now God is giving us an opportunity. This is also this prayer is also a redemptive, redemptive action of God where God says, yes, I know the earth is corrupted. I know Satan is interfering, but you have the power. You pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Meaning we don't want sickness. We don't want quarrels. We don't want the works of the flesh. We don't want immorality, you know, unholiness. We don't want all these things. Let your kingdom come just the way heaven is pure and powerful. We want our world to be like that. So this prayer, your kingdom come, you know, we can spend many minutes, even hours praying just this one line, your kingdom come. How? You can just pray and say, Lord, let your kingdom come in my mind. You know, in our mind, we think all kinds of unnecessary things. It's not godly. We need to have a renewed mind. Think the way the word of God guides us. Right? Sometimes our mind is like we don't listen to the Holy Spirit. We don't listen to the prompting of his voice. We're listening to all kinds of other things. Our own thoughts are running. Isn't it? So we can say, Lord, let your kingdom come in my mind. Lord, help me to focus according to your word. Now you can even pray and say, when you say your kingdom, you can say, God, let your rule, reign, dominion, authority, let it all come in my mind. We can say something like, Lord, let your kingdom, let your rule, your authority, let it come in my life. Isn't it? So you can think of all the areas of your life and just begin to pray the same prayer. You can even say, Lord, let your authority come in my spiritual life, in everything that I do, my worship, my reading of the word, walking with you, making decisions with you. Lord, help me. Let your kingdom come, Lord. Let your will be done. Isn't it? In my life. So start to pray like that and say, God, I want your kingdom in my life, in my spiritual life. We can even pray this for our health. We can pray for our finances. Isn't it? We can pray for our ministry. We can even pray for our family and say, God, on earth as it is in heaven, how is it in heaven? I want like that in my family. Lord, you can even pray for the church and say, God, let my church be such that the way heaven is. Let my church be like that. Let your kingdom come. You rule, you reign, you have dominion, you have authority. So we are inviting God into every area of our lives and we are saying, God, you should rule, not my own thoughts or Satan, his suggestions in my mind or anything that the enemy is doing. Let it not rule, but you rule and reign. So this way we can pray for so much. We can pray for, let's say, those who are married, you can pray for your spouse, you can pray for your children. You can just pray for them and say, Lord, you rule and reign in their life. You rule and reign in the child's life. Okay. Let nothing else rule and reign. No evil. Let it not rule and reign, but you rule and reign. Let your kingdom come. So in this way, we can spend some amount of time just inviting the kingdom of God. And even when we pray for the city or the nation, it's a valid prayer. That's what Jesus was saying. He was saying, use your authority, invite the kingdom into every area of your personal life and also the church, also the city, the nation, everything that comes to your mind, you can pray this prayer. Lord, let your kingdom come. Is that okay, everyone? Are you good with that? Then we can move on. Okay. Sure. So that was the second line and we can now look at the next line where in Matthew 611, Jesus said, pray, give us this day our daily bread. So what does this mean? Correct. Okay. So it simply means our specific needs. All of us have needs in our everyday life. It could be needs with regard to our health or our family, our personal life. So if there are needs, it's not like God is saying, you should only have a spiritual prayer. How come you're asking for other things? Like, God, I don't have a place to stay. Give me a place to stay. God is not going to rebuke us to be honest about our needs. So if we have a need, it can be anything. It can be, you know, a material need or it can be some other form of need, we can place it before God. And that's what Jesus is saying. He's saying, and in fact, He's even saying, give us this day our daily bread, which means that day to day we have needs and sometimes our needs may change, right? What I needed yesterday may be different from what I need today. But what is the comforting thought here that God is willing to provide for our daily needs? Because He knows that we are in need of things, we are in need of, you know, His blessings in our lives. So we can take some time to pray each day for our needs or we may even know the needs of others. People share with us some of the things that they need. So keep that in prayer and begin to pray for others as well. So that's what this next line means when we ask God for our daily bread. So it's not that only I'll pray for my food and that's it. Okay, so more than food daily needs is what Jesus is referring to. Going on to the next point here where in verse 12, He is taught us to pray, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. So you know the Lord's prayer, it really helps us understand how God is thinking. First He said our Father, which means the first relationship that we must be concerned about is who? God. So our Father in heaven and then we begin the prayer like that. But even earthly relationships are important. So that is why one of the things that Jesus taught us to pray is to make our earthly relationships right. So He is asking us to pray in this way, forgive us our debts and that simply means if in our relationships with people, now people may mean our family, people may mean our friends, may mean those who we work with. We must treat people right. So if we don't do that and somewhere in our hearts we are convicted that I did something wrong or I was not you know behaving right with this person or something that is hurting you in your heart and it always happens when we sit to pray that reminder comes, isn't it? We recognize that there are matters that need to be taken up to God and must be addressed. So we must bring it before the Lord and ask for forgiveness. I dealt with this earlier that you know we really have to when we pray in this way after dealing with those issues then we can pray with a clear heart. So we must ask God for forgiveness but notice how there is one more thing that is pointed out here. One is that I'm asking God for forgiveness but the second thing is I should also forgive others. So when we come to this portion of the prayer, God may bring to our mind some people who did wrong to us. So are we in a place in our hearts where we have released them? We have forgiven them. Now if forgiving other people is not important then why will Jesus teach us to pray like this? It's very important for an effective prayer. You understand? So God forgive me what mistakes I have made but He also has included as I forgive those who have wronged me. Now imagine we are telling God, God you forgive me, forgive me, I'm not going to forgive anybody. They deserve it. That's not correct. We are not praying according to the Lord's prayer. It has to be both ways. God is saying okay I'll forgive you but you better forgive those who have wronged you. So every day to go through this prayer will help us deal with the issues even in our relationships on a day-to-day basis. Day-to-day or if you sit in prayer for more than once a day then more than once you're dealing with these matters because every day we are interacting with people, something is happening, something somebody said, somebody did but you can deal with it and keep your heart clear, keep your heart pure. Okay so forgiveness is very very important. Now forgiveness is another huge subject and there are lots of questions about forgiveness but we won't deal with that right now just for us to know that our heart has to be clear before God. That I must ask God, I must say sorry for the things that I did wrong and then I must also forgive others and you know not treat them with a grudge or anything. Now moving on to the next section here verse 13, Jesus told us to pray, do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil one. So basically this is a prayer asking God for protection. Protection from the promptings of the devil. Now we will study this later, I think in another course about Satan and all the things that Satan does but to put it in a nutshell, in a summary, his main task is to play with our mind, to play with our thoughts. Okay if we are not careful enough, if we are not alert enough, okay so that's the best way in which he tries to defeat the believer by speaking lies into the minds of the believers, accusing them, tempting them right and suggesting evil thoughts, lust, so many things he'll put into our mind. Now if the believer is not strong in the word and if the believer is not strong in the spirit what happens they will go with the suggestions of the enemy but if we are strong in the word, if we are strong in the work of the spirit let him do whatever he wants to do. We can find out, hey that thought, that's not me, that's not God, that's the devil, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus right, so you can keep the devil away and not let him, he will tempt us, we can't stop that but overcoming temptation that is up to us right. So now what Jesus is saying is we can pray and ask God for protection, God I'm asking for protection, let me not be tempted and we know our weakness is best isn't it, each one of us we know our weaknesses, we may be strong in many things but we may have certain weaknesses, so now it is my responsibility when I pray to go to God and say God you know these areas I am struggling, I want you to help me, protect, help me guard my mind, I don't want to give in to the temptation of the devil right, so praying honestly before God for protection and guarding of the mind is what Jesus is actually teaching here and so in our thoughts, in our imaginations, our desires, affections, these are all the areas where he can play, he can play with us but we must not let him do that and one important thing to do is to pray and say God I remember we learned that word consecrate, consecrate meaning dedicate, so you can just pray a prayer like God I dedicate my thoughts, my imaginations, my affections, my desires right, my plans, God I give everything to you, let not the enemy tempt me, let him never be successful in tempting me to go away from the purposes of God for my life, okay so pray in this way, pray protection, pray for God to guard us and finally you know in the end we also see God, Jesus teaching us to say yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever amen, so you remember how we started the Lord's Prayer, what did we pray first? our Father who art in heaven, then hallowed be your name, where we said we can worship God, we can bless God, we can honor God right, how are we closing the prayer? Same, yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, so we are giving God the rightful place in our lives okay, we are expressing our dependence on God, so that's the way to even close off the prayer so you know I like to look at think of it something like a sandwich, you have in a sandwich if you have all noticed you have like a piece of bread on top, a piece of bread below and you have like whatever feelings you want in between right, so very similar, when you pray you start the prayer with thanksgiving, close the prayer with thanksgiving in between you know you have your all your other prayers where you're asking God Lord let your kingdom come, forgiveness, I am forgiving others, meet my needs so on and so forth, so it's just a pattern that Jesus gave us and we can apply this pattern every day if you don't if we don't know how to pray you know some people say what is there to pray you know 10 minutes I can pray whatever I want 10 minutes I can finish my prayer, what is there to pray for one hour or some sometimes you know I've read particularly one particular man of God I read that when he started praying he used to feel very bored so he used to go into one corner and then start praying but every few minutes you look at the clock how much time how much more time is left oh only five minutes okay pray some more then again look at the time it's only 10 minutes okay pray some more the time felt so long to pray fine but you see when we use this as a pattern take a book write down all the points the different points it's very helpful that's why sometimes prayer points are helpful because you can spend that time praying for all those prayer points and address all those things in our prayer time so in the beginning it may be hard but as we start practicing right I'm sure all of us will desire many hours in prayer and we will be like oh time is not enough to pray that's why maybe Jesus prayed the whole night Jesus prayed all the time because he loved praying it's possible to develop a prayer life like that where we can really enjoy the presence of God and bring everything which is in our hearts to the Lord okay so this is about the pattern of the Lord's prayer which we can all apply okay whenever I see Vicky's message sorry because he's supposed to be here but today also he's online okay Vicky is that a question okay so now he was answering the question about I asked you why why is there why is the world not perfect so for that okay fine any other questions any other comments before we close the session about the pattern of prayer that Jesus taught us yes Nelson sorry can you come again please huh okay little more explanation okay Nelson wants more explanation for lead us not into temptation I know it sounds like you know God is leading us into temptation but whenever we say something like that we should have other scriptures to back us up so if you study the book of James James tells us God does not tempt us we fall into temptation because of our own desires God doesn't tempt us so even though this line sounds like God is leading us into temptation that's not true the interpretation right God is not leading us Satan tempts us okay but we can pray for protection is that clear Nelson God is not tempting us Satan is tempting us and we must pray for protection now in life there can be times that God may God may let us walk through some tests but test is different from temptation God does not tempt us but there can be some tests that we walk through that God actually allows those tests to happen why because if we go through the test in the right way we will come out stronger so God wants to promote us that's why the tests happen but test is different from temptation God will never tempt us who will tempt us Satan Satan is the tempter yeah good question Nelson thanks yeah and anything else okay fine then let's take a break we'll come back in 10 minutes and get into the next chapter thank you everyone thank you God bless