Becoming Like Jesus: Scripture MemorizationSample

He is Our Father

Throughout this next week, we are going to learn the prayer that Jesus taught to His disciples. A prayer that begins with a powerful statement about the kind of relationship we have with God.

“Our Father…”

This is how Jesus wants us to see God. Not as some distant ruler or impersonal force, but as our Father. And if God is our Father, then that makes us His kids. Let that truth sink in. Don’t just read over it and move on. Meditate on it. Reflect on it. Internalize it so that it’s not just something you read, but it’s something you begin to live.

Pray…

God, thank you for loving me. Help me to worship you with all that I am. Bring your goodness and grace to my family, my friends, and my community. Help me be grateful for what I have and not jealous of what I don’t. Show me what true forgiveness looks like so I can show it to others. Protect me from the evil one and his plans to destroy me. Guide me to live this day in the fullness of who you are. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Read…

“Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.” Matthew 6:9-13 NLT

Consider…

When Jesus teaches us this prayer, He’s not just giving us a list of words to repeat so we can say we’ve prayed. He’s showing us how to pray with the right heart, what the true purpose of prayer is, and He’s giving us a structure to help us talk to God as our Father.

When you look at this prayer from Jesus, what do you think He wants us to learn about having the right heart in prayer? What do you think Jesus wants us to learn about the purpose of prayer? How could this structure of prayer help you better connect with God?

Practice…

There is an ancient practice called “festooning” which means putting the Bible into your own words. To “festoon” means to decorate or adorn. In this context, it’s a way of putting a passage of Scripture into your own words to express how God might be speaking to you.

That’s what we are going to do today. Take the prayer we just read from Jesus and rewrite it in your words, staying true to the heart, purpose, and structure that Jesus gave us. After you’ve done that, try shortening it to a couple sentences, maybe even down to one. Then, read back over the original prayer and pay attention to the similarities and differences from what you’ve written. What stands out to you?

Listen…

Set a timer for five minutes.

Find a quiet place and get alone with God. Maybe it’s outside, in your bedroom, or in your car. Just be still and listen to what God may be saying to you.

Ask Him to speak.

When you get distracted from your listening, come back to Jesus by meditating on your memory verse. Ask the Holy Spirit to change you to look more like Jesus today.