Prayer As God Prescribes
Pray then like this:
“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 our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:9-13
What do you pray for? Do you pray for safe travels, successful surgeries, wins for your favorite team, a new phone, a better relationship, happiness and joy, money and power, for help with your sin, for comfort when you feel hurt or alone, or a combination of many of these things? You can tell a great deal about a person from what they pray for. You can tell much more from what they don’t pray for.
The more I have delved into the prayers of great men and women from history, the more I have concluded that my prayers are small. When I was in college, I remember getting on my knees, squeezing my eyes shut and saying “OK, God. What do you want me to ask you?” I heard no voice from heaven or a nudge in my heart, but there came a day soon after in which I was met with my answer. “Pray then like this:”
What does the Lord’s Prayer teach us about prayer? First, it teaches us that our prayers are small. Our prayers for safe travels become minuscule in the face of Christ’s prayer that God’s name would be hallowed. Jesus teaches us that our desire should be for the Lord’s name to be known as holy throughout the world. To rephrase our prayer: “Lord make your name known as holy and powerful as I go on my trip.”
Our prayers for power and for happiness are revealed to be selfish in light of Christ’s prayer that God’s kingdom would come and God’s will would be done. When we look at these prayers, it is clear that our petitions before God are stuffed with lazy selfishness. When was the last time that you prayed for God’s work outside of your own life? Jesus wanted us to desire the growth of God’s kingdom, meaning the spread of the gospel and the final coming of Christ, as well as to pray that far above our own desires God would be pleased to do as He wills!
We must stop praying as if the world would stop spinning if we were not happy! You can pray for yourself, of course. But when was the last time that your heart broke in prayer for the lost-ness of the world or for the injustice done to God’s name by mockers? When did we become pacified in petition and unreliable in intercession? I recently heard a quote from a pastor in my area saying, “If God gave you everything you had asked for in prayer today, how many of your lost neighbors would receive Christ today?”
The most important thing for us to see in the Lord’s Prayer is that our priorities have gotten hopelessly mixed up! You might be uncomfortable with all that I have suggested so far. That’s alright, but is it possible that your uncomfortably stems for a desire to be at the center of your own life? “You are not your own, you have been bought with a price. So glorify God in your body!” Our self-centered world cannot support the prayer paradigm God gives us because it centers on God!
There are two parts to the Model Prayer: “Thy” and “my”. Thy comes before, takes precedence, and is grander in thought than the “my” section. This is the proper pattern of prayer. Yes, we must pray for ourselves and our lives! No, this is not the pinnacle of our requests or our desires! “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives within me!” This is our cry.
The three petitions of the “my” section of the prayer teach us a fourth and final aspect of godly prayer: it recognizes our needs and our sin. In essence, godly prayers come from humble people. Lord, don’t give me a million dollars, give me what I need for myself, my daily bread. Remember David’s words in Psalm 16: “I have no good apart from You… You are my chosen portion and my cup…” This is followed by a commitment to obedience and thanksgiving for God’s grace. Christ finishes this prayer with a recognition of the dangers Christians would face in the coming days. “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from [the] evil [one].”
This is the first of many articles in our series on prayer and each week, I hope to give you a challenge that I will follow as well. This week: pray the Lord’s prayer every day. Break it up into a few sections if you need to but get through the entire thing each day. Don’t just pray the words but explain to God what you mean by each word. I believe that this prayer, if prayed with faith, can transform our lives and recenter our worlds around God.
If you have any questions, success stories, or thoughts and meditations, please feel free to comment on this article, write on our Facebook page, or send me a message!
