WEDNESDAY (2/24/21)

Hey there! I’m Nicole Forgette. I’m originally from Minnesota but have
lived in South Bend for the past three years. I love adventure, especially
the infinite adventure in knowing God through Christ in His Word. I serve
in the ministry of Revive Our Hearts in the Spanish division and am part
of the wonderful Near Northwest Home Group through Riverside.

  • Let’s read Matthew 6:1-18. You probably have a section of this memorized without even knowing it!

The Lord’s Prayer! It’s one many of us learn as children or hear in movies
or at Christian events. So easily it can become a repetition that we may
not realize what we’re actually praying for. So let’s pick it apart a bit and
take a closer look!

Notice the first two verses have to do with God. So easily we can start
our prayer with talking about ourselves. Let us put our first focus in
prayer on Him!

  • “Your Kingdom Come”—When we ask for the Kingdom to come, do we know what we’re asking for? Do we know what God’s Kingdom is?
  • “Give us this day”—God meets our daily needs. So quick we are to worry about tomorrow, but God tells us to not worry about tomorrow. Let us focus on today!
  • “Lead us not into temptation”—Often it seems like we lead ourselves into temptation and then ask Christ to deliver us.
  • “For Yours is…”—The doxology, finishing the prayer in praise! May we both start and end our prayers in praise to Christ our Lord.

This prayer isn’t one we’re supposed to constantly repeat but it is a
pattern/example of how we should pattern our prayers.

Reflect on the following question as you go about your day today:

  • What other lines of this pattern prayer seem confusing?