lves, in all
God's children, in presence of the world, God Himself would
reveal the holiness, the Divine power, the hidden glory of the
name of Father. The Spirit of the Father is the _Holy_ Spirit: it
is only when we yield ourselves to be led _of Him_, that the name
will be _hallowed_ in our prayer and our lives. Let us learn the
prayer: 'Our Father, hallowed be Thy name.'

'_Thy kingdom come._' The Father is a King and has a kingdom. The
son and heir of a king has no higher ambition than the glory of
his father's kingdom. In time of war or danger this becomes his
passion; he can think of nothing else. The children of the Father
are here in the enemy's territory, where the kingdom, which is
in heaven, is not yet fully manifested. What more natural than
that, when they learn to hallow the Father-name, they should long
and cry with deep enthusiasm: 'Thy kingdom come.' The coming of
the kingdom is the one great event on which the revelation of the
Father's glory, the blessedness of His children, the salvation of
the world depends. On our prayers too the coming of the kingdom
waits. Shall we not join in the deep longing cry of the redeemed:
'Thy kingdom come'? Let us learn it in the school of Jesus.

'_Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth._' This petition is
too frequently applied alone to the _suffering_ of the will of
God. In heaven God's will is _done_, and the Master teaches the
child to ask that the will may be done on earth just as in
heaven: in the spirit of adoring submission and ready obedience.
Because the will of God is the glory of heaven, the doing of it
is the blessedness of heaven. As the will is done, the kingdom of
heaven comes into the heart. And wherever faith has accepted the
Father's love, obedience accepts the Father's will. The surrender
to, and the prayer for a life of heaven-like obedience, is the
spirit of childlike prayer.

'_Give us this day our daily bread._' When first the child has
yielded himself to the Father in the care for His Name, His
Kingdom, and His Will, he has full liberty to ask for his daily
bread. A master cares for the food of his servant, a general of
his soldiers, a father of his child. And will not the Father in
heaven care for the child who has in prayer given himself up to
His interests? We may indeed in full confidence say: Father, I
live for Thy honor and Thy work; I know Thou carest for me.
Consecration to God and His will gives wonderful liberty in
prayer f