“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven’”  ~ Matthew 6:9-10.

There are seasons and situations in this life that are just hard, and that can be stating it lightly. Can I get an “amen”!

In such times, it can be difficult to know even how to pray. That is when God most often leads me to the Model Prayer outlined for us by Jesus. Today, as He leads me anew to this format, I note that the first three parts of our outline all point us to realize who God is: His attributes, nature, reality, faithfulness, and sovereignty. Just as the names of God point us to all we can know true of Him, Jesus reminds us to remember these things ~ first and foremost ~ before ever considering our daily need.

Holy habitation remembers:

God is our Father ~ Jesus tells us that He is a Father we can trust to give us that which is best for us (Matthew 6:25-7:11). Believing this true, I know that when hard times come to our lives, there is a purpose from Father that we may not understand until we come through the fires to see His glory. I also believe the author of Hebrew, who tells us in chapter 12, verse 10, that our Heavenly Father disciplines our lives “for our good, so that we may share His holiness.”

The scriptures are one source of God’s discipline, being “inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Discerning the truth of His word is vital to our ability to walk through life and weather its storms.

“All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11). God is Father, doing what is best for His children, so that we are not condemned with the world (1 Corinthians 11:32).

God is in heaven above ~ This truth reminds us that as we enter into the intimacy of relationship with God as Father, we must always remember that He is Sovereign, Lord of all. Nothing in life happens without His notice, and all that happens He works to fulfill His purpose (Romans 8:28-39). When things get rough, it is not the time to fall short in our faith that God is Sovereign above all, working in and through our lives to bring us to His holiness. That is when we most need to look to Him for discernment of the work His hand is producing in our lives.

Hallowed be Your name ~ No matter the trouble we face in this life, we can trust God to be holy: to be who He says He is, doing all He says He will do. In times of trouble, I too easily see the trouble and think God is somehow losing the war. Yet true faith to believe God “is” and that He is the reward for those who seek Him, continues to trust, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”

God is working an eternal purpose. He has more than the fleeting time we have in this life at heart. We may not fully understand His purpose for allowing the fires of testing or our times in the lion’s den, but He has eternal purpose with eternal perspective that is working for our good, not our harm. Failing to believe and trust Him when things get hard is to fail to know God.

“Not that I have already obtained it [this goal of being Christlike] or have already been made perfect, but I actively press on so that I may take hold of that [perfection] for which Christ Jesus took hold of me and made me His own” ~ Philippians 3:12, AMP.