How often do you find yourself praying self-centred prayers? It happens to me all the time.
Fortunately, Jesus taught a prayer that awakens worship, restarts relationship, and directs attention to the right things. It's commonly called the Lord’s Prayer.
Matthew 6:9-13 records Jesus' words:
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."
As I align my prayers with the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, it cultivates a posture. A posture where I'm ready for a more dynamic relationship with God, more heartfelt worship, and and more transformation of my desires.
Our Father in heaven
Jesus starts with first things first. He reminds me that I relate to God as my heavenly Father. He is my Creator after all. But he is also my Father because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross: God has not only forgiven me of my sins but also adopted me into his family. My Father in heaven gives me the status, rights, and blessings that Jesus has!
As I start my prayers meditating on this good news and the privilege of calling God my Father, I am encouraged and my heart is warmed to him.
Hallowed be your name
When I contemplate God’s glory and the honour due his name as creator, sustainer, and redeemer of all things, my sense of awe and worship is deepened. I grow in my desire to live a life that reflects that God is preeminent.
Your kingdom come
Prayer is not about me and getting what I want. It is about wanting God’s kingdom in my life and the lives of those around me. When I consider Jesus’ description of God’s kingdom, where the first are last and the last are first, it shocks me because it is so different from the way human kingdoms operate.
In praying for God’s kingdom to come, I’m also calling on Jesus to change my heart to desire his kingdom priorities.
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven
My prayers can quickly become a form of wishing for my will to be done. But by seeking to know God’s will through anchoring myself in the Bible and contemplating its application to my life, I can steer away from the tendency toward lists of requests that are mostly selfish and connected to my own advancement.
Give us this day our daily bread
In this prayer, I can learn to trust my heavenly Father as I ask him to provide for my needs. Here Jesus teaches me how to rest from my anxieties: I come to my heavenly Father with my needs. As I do, over time I am transformed to have an attitude of thanksgiving, enjoyment, contentment, and generosity as I receive what is freely given, rather than earned.
Forgive us, as we also have forgiven
Confessing my sin to God and experiencing his forgiveness is an ongoing part of prayer. When I am mindful of God’s unconditional love for me, I can then extend forgiveness to others who have offended me. I always need to be examining my attitudes in relationships: “Am I forgiving others as Jesus has forgiven me?”
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
I am invited to ask God to safeguard me from temptation in the first place. I also recognize my need for God’s support and deliverance in the midst of temptation when it comes. I need help because I am spiritually weak, often physically tired, and am aware of the source of tempting desires that grow up within me. As Scripture reminds us:
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. (James 1:13-15)
For yours is the kingdom, power, and glory
This prayer reminds me that the kingdom belongs to God, and it is only by his power and for his glory that he brings it into reality. This safeguards me from any saviour complex, from self-salvation, and from striving to bring the kingdom through my own ambition.
By faith, I can trust that God is establishing his kingdom in this present time, while having ultimate hope that all the prophecies about his coming kingdom will be fulfilled in the future.
These verses remind me to put my hope in God’s faithfulness and mercy to bring his kingdom:
Because of the Lord’s covenant faithfulness, we do not perish. His mercies never fail: they are new every morning. How great is your faithfulness, O God. So I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance, therefore I will put my hope in him.” (Lamentations 3:22-24)
I am thankful for this prayer Jesus taught us to pray. Its structure reminds me to develop my relationship to God my Father, to worship him, and to desire his kingdom priorities.
