The Lord’s Prayer
If I were to ask you to recite the Lord’s Prayer whether you are a Christian or non-Christian I bet most of us could recite some lines from this prayer. In this prayer, Jesus is teaching His disciples how to pray. I don’t know about you, but sometimes my prayer life can become dull like I’m reciting a memorized prayer. Reciting a prayer from my lips that has no meaning in my heart is like an empty cup waiting to be filled. An empty cup is not fulfilling its purpose unless it’s filled.
The purpose of prayer works the same way in our lives. The Lord’s Prayer was never meant to just be something we memorize but a pattern that we apply to our hearts and lives. God knows better than us what we need and directs our steps in The Lord’s Prayer. I encourage you to read this whole article today to develop a powerful pattern of prayer that God desires to bring us the most abundant life ever in Him.
Worship
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Jesus starts His prayer off by turning to God, His Father. His prayer begins with showing reverence, respect for our God who is sovereign, omnipotent and creator of all things. Turning our eyes towards God focuses our attention on his abilities that nothing is too difficult for Him. Recognizing God for everything He is to us, takes our focus off of ourselves and gives Him the glory, which is a form of worship.
Submission
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This part of the prayer puts God’s will first ahead of our own agenda. Allowing God’s desires to be greater than our desires gets rid of any selfishness or self-centeredness. God is able to do anything, however, the way God works in our lives isn’t as a genie in a bottle ready to grant our every wish. If our hearts are filled with things that get in the way of him such as greed, lust or selfishness, we limit God’s power within us. In order to receive God’s divine power working within us, we must be in places of humbleness and surrender. Submission prepares our hearts for the next part of the prayer.
Appropriate Requests
Give us this day our daily bread. This is the part of the prayer is where we ask God for our requests and needs. This is where we can ask for help for anything we need in our lives such as marriage, parenting, help with finances, provision, relationships. God’s provision can provide us with anything. But if our requests are inappropriate such as, ‘God please give me a million dollars,’ He will not grant our requests. Daily bread is our daily provision of what God offers not what we desire. When we have the daily bread He provides for us we are eternally satisfied (John 6:35). When we are content with the daily provision in what God provides us we can forgo the rat race and make do with what He provides.
Confession
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Asking forgiveness from God purifies our hearts and makes us right before Him. Our sin and unforgiveness separate us from God.
Jesus said, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matt. 6:14-15).
Thankfully God is in the healing and restoration business. He cares about our eternal salvation. Jesus paid a high price for our sins with his life. It costs us nothing to forgive but costs us our lives if don’t forgive. Forgiving someone who hurt you may be the hardest thing you do. But I promise when you do forgive, you will be set free from the heavy burden of carrying around unforgiveness. Jesus came so we could have life and have it to the full, not so we can be weighed down with our sins and burdens. Confessing our sins removes the obstacles in our hearts for God’s love to grow within us and cleans out our hearts.
Authority
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Asking God to protect us from temptation and the evil one recognizes God as the authority in our lives. This part of the prayer is asking God who is Lord in our lives to direct our steps and keep Satan away from our hearts. Praying for protection over our hearts is so important to keep the enemy out of our lives and allows victory over our temptations. Deliverance sets us free from our sins, temptations, and strongholds that keep us captive and away from God’s plan in our lives.
Worship
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. The Lord’s prayer not only begins with worship but ends in worship as well. Ending our prayer by giving thanks to God for all that he does for us acknowledges that He is the God of the heaven and earth.
The Lord's prayer is a pattern of prayer that gives us the elements of a strong, powerful prayer foundation. Click To TweetThe Lord’s prayer isn’t meant to be rote memorization but active, alive and breathing in our lives. We can learn so much from what Jesus teaches us in The Lord’s Prayer. Prayer can be so powerful in our lives if we use it the way God intended for us.
What have you learned from The Lord’s Prayer?
Write out your own pattern of Prayer of Worship, Submission, Requests, Confession, Authority, and Worship.
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