Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
We don't pray to earn anything. We don't have to multiply words because words somehow buy favors. So we must not breeze by any of the words of the prayer our LORD teaches us.
‘Our Father who art in heaven,
The prayer that Jesus teaches us begins in relationship. The whole orientation of this prayer is to our Father in heaven, Abba. We are addressing someone whom we love and whose love for us is beyond all telling. This is the vital context to the rest of the prayer. We pray the next verses very differently to a Father than we would to, say, a tyrannical king. We want to see our Father properly understood by all. We want to see his name respected and held in appropriate honor.
hallowed be thy name,
We pray for the coming of his kingdom knowing that it is not only good and well ordered but also that only there will we truly find a lasting home.
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
His kingdom comes to the degree that his will is done. And what is the will of the Father? That none be lost (cf. John 6:39). And where is the only place that the will of God might or might not happen? Yes, in our hearts, because of the gift of freedom. We see God's will at work in the heart of Paul:
For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God,
since I betrothed you to one husband
to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
We pray that the Father's will be done. If we mean it- if we aren't babbling like the pagans- we won't be complacent when it isn't done. Others may have to "put up with a little foolishness" from us because our hearts are set on seeing the Father's kingdom established in our daily lives.
We often see what frustrates Paul in today's reading.
For if someone comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached,
or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received
or a different gospel from the one you accepted,
you put up with it well enough.
This is not the Father's will. He wants none to be lost. And there is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved except for the name of Jesus (cf. Acts 4:12). We can be absolutely sure that if we sincerely ask that his will be done in us it will be. This may set us at odds with the times in which we live. Yet when we see it we will join the psalmist in giving thanks for the mighty works of God.
Majesty and glory are his work,
and his justice endures forever.
He has won renown for his wondrous deeds;
gracious and merciful is the LORD.
Matt Maher - As It Is In Heaven
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