Learning Prayer: The Lord’s Prayer

Hey guys, today we will be going over another installment in our learning prayer series as we learn about the Lord’s Prayer. We will be talking about how Jesus taught us to pray and how we are to use this prayer as our template for all prayer. Let’s check it out

How Jesus taught prayer

Jesus was a prolific teacher and a man of prayer. He would pray for miracles all the time and teach His disciples about the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. So it would naturally make sense that His disciples would ask Him to teach them about prayer. This is the Lord’s Prayer.

“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. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]

Matthew 6:9‭-‬13 NASB1995

This is the prayer that Jesus gives us. Now we can see throughout the New Testament and the Gospels that prayer doesn’t always look like this. But from this prayer, we can see what Jesus prioritizes when coming to the Father with requests. This can point us in the right direction for structuring our prayers in a similar way.

The Lord’s Prayer: Honor God first

The first part of Jesus’ prayer, is He honors the Father. He recognizes the name of the Father as hallowed. Hallowed means greatly revered and honored. This isn’t just some kind of basic honor to appease God, but rather a deeply ingrained fear and respect for the Father. When I come before God, I try to always make a point of honoring Him and praising Him before actually bringing my requests to Him. This is how you connect with God and actually build your faith before you even ask for anything. Because in the process of praise and worship, you mind will open up the reality of how big God really is. This will help your faith as you continue to pray.

God’s Will over Your Will

The next part of Jesus’ prayer is that He asks that the Father’s will would be done. Now what is interesting here is that Jesus even asks for this, because most believers think that God’s will always gets done. But this is not true, nor is it Biblical. It wasn’t God’s will that the Israelites would wander in the desert for forty years, that was their will. God’s will was that Israel wouldn’t fall into Idolatry and be dispersed to the nations. It wasn’t God’s will that King Saul would fail to be a good king or that there would be a King in Israel at all. All these things happened, but they weren’t Gods will. That is why it is so important that we pray that the Lord’s will would be done in our lives. If we don’t pray, we can’t expect God’s will to be done.

The Lord’s Prayer: Daily Bread

After praying for God’s will to be done, we are to pray for our daily bread. Now this to me means more than just food but rather everything that we need. This prayer is for our needs. If we are Children of God, then our needs will be met. And if our needs are to be met, then we no longer need to be anxious for anything. God wants to free us for anxiety, so we are to pray for our needs.

Prayer for Forgiveness

The next part of our prayer time should be for our forgiveness and our growth. You should find time in your prayer to ask the Lord to not only forgive you for sins, but to show you those that are hidden. Ask Him to search out your heart for any hidden sins. He is a God who wants to perfect you and bring you to perfect righteousness. But that process looks like leaning into Him for strength, understanding, and growth. In my prayer life, I take time to ask for forgiveness and to pray for growth in my character. I found that answered prayer can be amazing but it is even better when you pray that you would grow.

Praying Against the Devil

The last thing that Jesus prays about resisting the Devil. Now Jesus is actually well aware of the devil and his temptations. But many Christians today are dangerously ignorant of the devil. Either they have never been taught the reality of the demonic and spiritual warfare, or their underlying unbelief in the Word of God keeps them from understanding. Mature believers realize that there is a very real spiritual world and in that world there are demonic beings that attack believers. We need to pray against their schemes that led us to sin and death. We must fight them through prayer and reaching the lost. Always make sure there is some kind of spiritual warfare in your prayer life. Otherwise you may become another casualty in this brutal war.

Honoring God

After all these prayers, Jesus ends His address to the Father with another round of praises. In all these prayers He never forgets that He is speaking with the Father. The Almighty and the Most High. Never forget who your Father is in prayer. And now you know everything that The Lord’s Prayer can teach us.

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