Our Father

“This, then, is how you should pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be your name,

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.”

Matthew 6:9 (NIV)

I struggled for a few days on how to write a follow-up to my last article in which I argued that followership is the basis of Christian leadership. I re-read the teachings of Jesus and some from Paul related to the topic and wrote two separate drafts of a follow-up article. However, after these several days, I recognized that something was missing and that the thing that was missing was God. By that, I mean that I recognized that I had been relying upon my own logic in trying to craft a point and arguments to support the point from Scripture. I was not seeking God’s will and voice in my writings. I presume I am not alone in this observation and that many of us go through those times in our lives where we seek to do God’s will of our own strength and our own logic.

To stay connected to God spiritually and to seek His will for our lives requires regular prayer and, according to Jesus, prayer is quite simple. The Lord’s prayer begins with an acknowledgement that God is our father. As such, we love and respect Him as our father. This is consistent with Jesus other teachings where he instructs us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, this is the first and greatest commandment. (Matthew 22:37-38, NIV).”

Jesus also tells us, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. (Luke 18:16-17).” To receive the kingdom of God, we also depend upon and trust God as His children, understanding that he has our best interests at heart and that He will provide us with our daily bread.

Once we are in a place where we love God with all that we are and acknowledge our dependence upon Him, then we can truly love others as ourselves (Matthew 22:39, NIV). Hence, to love and depend upon God is one of the foundations of Christian leadership.

King David acknowledged the right attitude toward God in his psalm:

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8 (NIV)