Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Jesus’ disciples had seen Him pray many times. Sometimes He prayed all night and sometimes His prayers were just one sentence. But Jesus’ followers made the connection between Jesus’ intense prayer life and the power He showed in every aspect of life. They must have realized that prayer was the link. Finally, one disciple asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. Jesus gave them a deceptively simple, childlike prayer which has become known as “The Lord’s Prayer.” The prayer is recorded in Luke 11:2-4 and Matthew 6:9-13. Matthew’s version highlights 7 key parts:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
(Matthew 6:9-13) NIV

In this pattern, Jesus provided His followers with guidelines for prayer based on the attributes or characteristics of God.
The two main sections of the prayer divide with the words “your” and “our.”

1.)     The first part centers on God, putting God in His rightful place in our priorities. Only by focusing on the patient and loving Father can we find the attitude that puts our own needs in perspective.

2.)     The second part focuses on our needs — body, soul, and spirit — and the needs of others. In just 3 brief requests, Jesus targets all of human behavior and character and reminds us that we always need Him. It’s been said that if these 3 requests are prayed properly, nothing more need be said. Only in moment-by-moment dependence on God will we experience the good things God wants to provide for us.

“The Lord’s Prayer” is a dangerous, life-changing prayer. Jesus’ enemies eventually killed Him for asserting His close tie to God through addressing God as “Father.” Until Jesus gave His followers the right to be called children of God, this would have been blasphemy.

21st-century Christians may take the privilege for granted, but the prayer is still a dangerous one. We do, in one sense, “take our lives in our hands” and offer them up again and again as sacrifice to the One who gave us all in the first place, receiving all of Life in return.

So, rather than giving us a formula to repeat over and over, Jesus gave us a model prayer illustrating first of all what our relationship with God should be like (the total dependence of children on a loving Father), and also the 3 main purposes of prayer:

To declare God’s holiness.
To usher in God’s Kingdom.
To do God’s will.

7 distinct parts emphasize 7 of God’s attributes that help to place all of our needs and desires in proper perspective.

PETITION            GOD’S ATTRIBUTE        FOCUS

Our Father in heaven              God’s Love        God is a loving Father.

Hallowed be your name             God’s Holiness        God’s name is holy.

Your kingdom come          God’s Sovereignty       There is no one
above God.

Your will be done on earth      God’s Authority        God has the supreme
As it is in heaven                            Authority.

Give us today our             God’s Providence        God is the source of
daily bread                             everything we need.

Forgive us our debts, as           God’s Mercy        Forgiveness is our
We also have forgiven                              Greatest need.
Our debtors

And lead us not into          God’s Protection        Trials prove our faith &
Temptation, but deliver us                    develop our characters.
From the evil one

Starting tomorrow, we will study all 7 of those parts, one each day. And I hope you will learn to be able to pray this prayer as part of your life and understand just what it means. See ya’ tomorrow! God bless!