The Ah-Man Newsletter for May continues my focus on prayer. In this month’s blog posts, I plan to break down the meaning of what is, arguably, the perfect prayer…The Lord’s Prayer…given by Jesus to His disciples during the Sermon on the Mount.
“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are; for they love standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou shut thy door, pray to thy father which is in secret: and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
“But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
“Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”
~Matthew 6:5-8
Jesus of Nazareth taught us how to pray and then gave us the Lords Pray as an example:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven ur debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
The very first line:
Our Father….
Jesus is teaching us how to think about God in a personal form. God in an impersonal form may be too vague… abstract…and, therefore, hard to have a personal relationship with.
In Vaishnavism, Bhakti yoga is the course of developing that personal relationship with God. This is the same course Jesus of Nazareth is teaching; a relationship that is developed from love, adoration and devotion.
Jesus, like other Great Masters, emphasizes the path of devotion, in which God is worshipped as a personal being, in order that we may love the Lord with all our heart, our soul and our mind. In order to have this personal relationship with God, we have to consider Him our very own.
Namaste,
Michael
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