“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!” Matthew 6:7-8 (NLT)
I don’t always know where to start when I sit down to pray. Before I know it, my mind starts to wander and my thoughts are far away from the things I wanted to pray about in the first place.
But there is good news.
The first piece of good news is that God knows what we need before we even ask. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and He has adopted us into His family. He knows our hearts better than anyone. On the days our prayers seem to fall short of what we meant for them to be, He still knows what we want to ask for.
The second piece of good news is this: Jesus knows that even when our spirits are willing, our flesh is weak. And so while he was here on earth, taking on our human form, he gave us a clear, concise model we can use when we talk to God.
The Lord’s Prayer.
This is how he taught his disciples to pray, and this is how we can pray, too. But so often, for me at least, I forget about the Lord’s Prayer. I treat it like a saying we memorize to say in church instead of a model for how we can bring our thoughts before our Creator.
The Lord’s Prayer is a beautiful prayer to recite, but it’s so much more than that. Through the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us the different parts of prayer. And what sorts of things we might want to bring to God.
Here is the Lord’s Prayer in the New Living Translation, which is probably a different translation than what you might have memorized: “Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.” Matthew 6:9-13 (NLT)
So let’s break this prayer down, and see what Jesus might be trying to teach us through it’s different parts.
1. Glorifying the name of God
Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
At the center of every prayer, we are giving all glory to God. He is the reason we pray. He is everything, and we long for His name to be magnified and praised in all the earth. Ultimately, we pray for God’s name to be lifted high.
2. Seeking God’s guidance
May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
God’s kingdom is coming, but that doesn’t mean we sit back and ignore the brokenness of this world. We pray for God’s will to be done here, now. We remember Paul’s words in Philippians 1:21: “To live is Christ and to die is gain.” And so in our prayers, we should ask God how we can be the hands and feet of Jesus in a messy world. We should seek His guidance.
3. Interceding for God’s provision
Give us today the food we need…
In all of this, there is still room for us to lift up our needs and the needs of others. We ask God to provide for us and to provide for those around us. We intercede on behalf of those who are sick or hurting or struggling.
4. Giving and asking for forgiveness
And forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
Forgiveness is at the core of the Christian faith, and so forgiveness should be at the core of our prayer life as well. We repent of the things we’ve done wrong, and ask God for forgiveness. And then we forgive those who have wronged us.
5. Asking God to be our rescuer
And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
Finally, we pray for protection. That God would be our rescuer amongst the world’s temptations.
God already knows our hearts, but I believe He still wants us to welcome Him in.
And so while I don’t think all our prayers need to follow this model, the Lord’s Prayer is a good place to start – especially if you’ve ever struggled to focus on your prayers or to know what to pray for.
By the way, never forget… you are onederfully created by this same God who loves us so much He teaches us how to talk more with Him.
Love,
Becca
