My favourite prayer is the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus gave to His followers. It was in response to them asking Jesus to team them how to pray (Luke 11:1).

There are several version of the same text. One is in more modern language and one is in the older King James style. I find I pray the older version as that is what I learned first. It tends to just flow out.

Here is the older version taken from Matthew 6…

Our Father,
who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil,
For the kingdom,
the power and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen

The thing I love about this prayer is it covers all areas of life. It honours God and seeks His will, asks for provision, forgiveness and protection, and finishes with giving God His glory.

I also love that depending on how I am feeling I might focus in the one line. Sometimes I might be about worship and honouring God. At other times it might be about provision, protection or forgiveness.

I am so happy the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. It has given us a great template to follow. One that allows us to connect with in God in a way that honours Him and also asks for our needs.

For my devotions I am moving on to the Book of Philippians. This is one of the letters Paul wrote to the churches while he was in prison in Rome.

The first reading comes from Philippians 1:3-11. This section is titled, “Paul’s thanksgiving and prayer”. In this section two main things stood out for me.

Paul’s joy with the Philippians

Verses 3 says, “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God”.

The Philippians give Paul special joy because they have been his partners in the Gospel. They have shared with him from the day they first heard about Christ until the day of writing.

Paul has a real love for the Philippians because they believed in the message of salvation and continued steadfastly in it. They took it so seriously that they partnered in his work – in prayer, encouragement and financially.

Paul’s prayer for the Philippians

In verse 9 Paul says, “I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding”.

Paul wanted them to continue to grow in their faith and be blessed by God. He prayed they would have full understanding of the things of God, be pure and blameless in their walk with the Lord and be filled with the fruit of salvation.

Paul really loved the Philippians. He was like a spiritual father to them as he planted the church at Philippi on his second missionary journey. This is why he experienced so much joy, prayed for them and wanted the best for them.

I am really looking forward to continuing through the book of Philippians and seeing what lessons I can learn afresh.

John 14:1-4 NLT – “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. [2] There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? [3] When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. [4] And you know the way to where I am going.”

In John 14 Jesus is speaking to the disciples about His going away. He gives them comfort and reassurance that in time they will be together again.

In verse 3 Jesus shares one of the great truths of the Bible. Jesus is preparing our eternal home and once it is ready and the time is right, He will come back for us.

I love the wording He uses – He will and we will. He WILL come back for us and we WILL be with Him forever.

This is the great hope we have in this life. That no matter what we see around us in the world, no matter how bad things seem to be, Jesus IS coming back for us.

With this hope in our hearts, we should not be troubled. We just need to trust in God and wait. He WILL come back at the appointed time, and we WILL be with Him forever.

Prayer

Thank You Jesus that You are preparing a place for us. Thank You that You will come back for us. Please help us to be resolute in our faith and trust in You. Help us to hold on to this great truth that we will spend eternity with You. Amen.