I liked Greg's idea that the Lord's Prayer is not an incantation we're to recite rotely.  Just because we recite it does not mean a fortiori we commune directly with our Lord and thereby access God's provision and blessing over our life.  It is a template to lead us into communion with our Lord.  It's in that place of communion where we praise and adore God from our heart, petition our own needs and intervene on behalf of others.  

We prepare our hearts for this spiritual encounter by being mindful that we are in relationship with our Creator!  We are invited to call him Father and approach him as One to whom we are closely related. 

How wonderful, and coming into God's presence should leave us full of wonder.  As the psalmist instructed those coming to worship in the temple long ago, "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name."  And so, Jesus instructs his disciples to revere God and keep his name hallowed: hallowed be thy name.  It was not too much for Moses to take off his shoes at the burning bush in awe and reverence and respect and wonder.  We might call God Father, but we do so with tremendous respect and fear.

When we pray, Jesus teaches us to begin by being mindful of God's invitation to us to call him Father; that God is close to us (immanence); and of the tension between God's transcendence and immanence.  

Should we not be thrilled at the invitation to encounter God in conversation (prayer)?  Daily!  Hourly!  How about moment by moment.  As Paul exhorts the church in Thessalonika, "pray without ceasing."

Let's encourage each other to do just that: pray without ceasing.  Let's be known as the praying church, and then stand back and see what God will do in and through us. 

Have a great Life Group discussion, and

Blessings,

Pastor Michael