Learning From Jesus-The Lord’s Prayer

When the disciples watched Jesus pray, they were so moved that they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray like Him. (Luke 11:1) His answer is known today as the Lord’s Prayer. It is a simple prayer but so profound. It is not just a prayer to recite but it’s a pattern to follow when you pray.

The Lord’s Prayer

“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. and 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

“Our Father In Heaven”

This part of the prayer begins with relationship. Jesus is inviting us to remember who God is. He is our loving Father that only wants the very best for us. He wants to hear from us every day. He wants to know our struggles and our wins. Praying begins with relationship. It’s simple just talk as though you are conversing with a close friend. You can laugh, cry, you can show emotions or not. God is just waiting to hear from you. A lot of people just pray this prayer and that’s ok, just don’t make it a ritual, add your own words to the prayer add what you are thinking and feeling.

“Hallowed Be Your Name”

To “hallow” means to honor as holy. In this part of the prayer we are honoring God as holy. We are letting Him know that we know He is a holy God that loves us and is worthy of honor. We recognize God is a holy God that is worthy of praise. We are praising Him in this part of the prayer. We do this before we ask for our needs to be met.

“Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done”

A lot of us get confused right here. What does this really mean? This simple statement means we aren’t asking God to bend his will to what we want. Here is where we align to what God’s will and purpose is for our lives. We are praying that His kingdom is coming into our world. We live in a sinful fallen world and we are asking God to bring the light of His kingdom to come and change our world with the light of His glory and gospel. We live in a world of filth, lies, and sins of all kinds. We are asking God to come and change the hearts of men and women and bring light into a very dark world.

Give Us Today Our Daily Bread”

God cares about all of our physical and practical needs He wants to meet every one of those needs. When we ask God to fill our daily needs, food, shelter, money for bills, health. We are actually putting our dependance on God for our needs to be met instead of us relying on ourselves.

Forgive Us, As We Forgive Others”

This is about restoring relationships, ours to the Father and us to our fellow man. Prayer is both vertical and horizontal. We are asking God to forgive us of the things we have done that don’t please Him. We sin and we ask forgiveness. We must also look at this from another prospective. We do things to each other and when we don’t forgive one another then how is God ever going to forgive us if we can’t forgive someone that has wronged us? In order for God to forgive us we must also forgive those around us that have done us wrong. God shows His forgiveness as an example of how we should forgive those around us.

Sometimes it’s hard to forgive someone that has wronged us. We need to look at the Father’s example He forgave us so we can share in His kingdom. So, in order for us to have a part in His kingdom we need to forgive as well.

“Deliver Us From Evil”

This is where we are asking God for His protection from the evils of this life. We are in a spiritual battle for our very souls. We need to pray for the Lord’s protection everyday for us and for those that we love and care about. The enemy is seeking those that he can destroy all the time. Our prayers will stop his advancements on us and those we love. This needs to be something we do daily for ourselves and for those that are close to us.

The Lord’s Prayer is not just as set of words, it’s a framework that shapes how we can pray. When we follow its flow, relationship, worship, surrender, dependence, forgiveness, protection we are praying in line with the very heart of Jesus.