Prayer
Just in case you have a tendency to forget (or maybe you weren’t there), here are the elements and notes for each section of the Lord’s Prayer:
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:”
Look at each verse from this prayer, and examine what each section has to tell us about how to pray, and then spend some moments praying through each section. This can be a great time for you to really connect with God and to listen for Him, and for you to learn some things about how to make the best use of your prayer time.
Find a place to pray, quiet your hearts and minds and prepare for prayer.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name”
In this section, we identify ourselves with “our Father in heaven” as his children, his creation, his sons and daughters. We recognize his leadership in our lives, his transcendence and his presence in our lives as we call Him “Father”. We also seek to praise him and give him glory as our Lord, and God of the universe. He is a great God, who is deserving of our highest praise, and we, his people were created to worship him. As we pray, we begin to understand our role in creation as brothers and sisters in Christ, who lived, died, and rose again to restore our right relationship with our Father. We realize that the same Father who loved Christ, and who gave His only son for us has adopted us through Christ as children He loves and values and in whom he finds beauty and joy. It is because of this amazing act of grace and love that we give glory to God today.
10 “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
As we pray “your kingdom come”, we pray not that God would impose his all-powerful will upon the world, but that we desire to become His instruments of change in the world. We seek to become messengers and servants of His kingdom, that we might usher in His kingdom in the world. This prayer is a sacrificing of ourselves, an acknowledgement of the supremacy of God’s rule and God’s will in our own lives. We lay down our own desires, our own will, to conform more and more to God’s plan and God’s vision for our lives. We wish to see our world changed, and this is a prayer, offering ourselves as servants of God to create a better world as we cooperate with His purposes for the world and for our lives.
11 “Give us today our daily bread.”
This is a prayer for provision. In a world full of have’s and have nots, in a country where excess is the norm, and consumption is a way of life, we necessarily remind ourselves that God is the giver of all good things. All things belong to Him and all that we need is provided by Him. He knows our needs before we even speak them. We ask Him to provide for all our needs: physical needs, spiritual needs, and relational needs. We are reminded of those whose needs go unmet, and we ask that God would provide for them, and that we would be blessed to be able to give to others and be the hands and feet of God in taking care of those in need. We also thank God for having provided for us and continuing to do so. We acknowledge the blessing in our own lives, and thank God for giving to us so freely.
12 “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
As we pray “forgive us our debts”, we are faced with the depth of our own sin: sin that separates us from God and causes pain, shame, loneliness, and a multitude of problems and difficulties in our lives. We confess our sin and ask forgiveness for the words spoken thoughtlessly, the actions done selfishly, the careless and the defiant. We ask for God’s grace and a restoration of a right relationship with Him, understanding that we have hurt God deeply, and that we don’t deserve His love, but that He loves us in spite of ourselves and will forgive our debts if we will only ask. We must also commit to repentance and understand that the long lasting consequences of sin in our lives remain, and that the only way to long term restoration is to turn from our sin and accept God’s will and purposes for our lives daily.
We also pray for those who have sinned against us: those who have hurt us, those who have isolated us. We ask not only that God would forgive them, but also that God would help us to do the same. It is only as we release others from their debts that our own lives can be made right and made whole.
13 “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
When we pray “lead us not into temptation”, we pray not to a God who seeks to make us stumble, but to a God who desires to keep us from evil. This is a prayer for protection, for safety, and for deliverance. We pray that God would keep us from situations in which we might struggle, and that he would lead us into places and connect us with people who will provide a positive and encouraging environment for our spiritual growth. We pray for protection from spiritual attacks and temptation, and particularly for accountability. We understand that in order for our relationship with God to blossom and grow, we must allow others to hold us accountable and encourage us in our pursuit of His will. God is a relational God, and we, made in His image, are relational people. We need others. So our prayer is that God would give us the resources and the relationships to live the way he designed us to live, because we acknowledge we cannot live life to its fullest in a broken world, without God’s grace and without the help of others.
These are things you can pray every time you pray.
Remember, prayer is much more about God speaking to you than you speaking to God. Take time to listen.
Jonathan Odom
James Peterson
Kelli Odom
John Winner
Larry Morris
Paul Goodenough
Heather Goodenough
Robert Peterson
Ashton Leibold
