Luke 11:2-4
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.  Give us day by day our daily bread.  And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

When Jesus teaches His disciples to pray, He presents to them a way to pray, and at the heart of it is faith.  First of all, it is faith in God supremely as the high and holy one, and yet God is also our Father.  He is one in authority, a sovereign ruler whose will must be done.  So when we come before Him, we trust in His goodness, His authority, and His will.  We submit to Him as the one in control of every aspect of our lives and the things that will impact us.  But then we can relate to Him as our heavenly Father who has our best interest at heart.

And when we know who God is, we know we can trust Him for our daily supply.  We can trust that our needs will be met because God, as our Creator and sustainer, promises to meet them.  And when it is our good and generous God we are trusting, we can know that we’ll have sufficient for each day, even if we don’t have tomorrow’s portion just yet.  We can know that our Father of unlimited resources will take care of His children.

We trust God’s promises.  He promises to forgive us, but we have to trust His way and forgive others also.  When we do so, we demonstrate that we’re willing to trust that what He says is the right and best thing to do and we can obey Him.  And then we trust His leading.  Following our Lord leads us to a good and righteous path.  Our gracious Father spares us from evil and protects us from falling into the traps of our enemies.  He ensures our safety as He guides us along.

Faith is at the heart of every aspect of our relationship with God.  And in prayer, we can pray with faith when we understand who God is and how to relate to Him.  When we understand He is trustworthy, we will more easily entrust every part of our lives into His hands.  May we come before the Lord with an abundant faith in His goodness, His ability, His love for us, and His grace.  And may that trust that is built during those intimate times of prayer enable us to submit completely to Him and His will for us.