I’m sure many of you, if you attended church and/or Sunday School as a child, remember certain scriptures that you learned and memorized, such as John 3:16 and the 23rd Psalm. Many people have also been taught the Lord’s Prayer and can recite it word for word.
That is wonderful to have memorized certain scriptures that you can quote from the Bible. However, as I have learned over the past decade or so, just memorizing scriptures does not really do anything tangible in your life other than being able to quote the scriptures you learned.
When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He gave them what we commonly call the Lord’s Prayer. It is found in Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4. It really bothers me now as I have grown in my walk with my Heavenly Father when I hear people just “ramble” the Lord’s Prayer off as memorization.
The Lord’s Prayer is not simply a prayer that Jesus intended for us to repeat word for word. It is also a pattern that teaches us how to approach God, what to pray about, and what should be important in our relationship with Him. Once you truly realize that Jesus didn’t intend for us to simply memorize that prayer, but rather wanted us to understand its meaning, it changes how we pray.
Jesus said:
Matthew 6:9–13 (NASB)
9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
10 ‘Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
I am not going to go into a lot of detail, but I want to touch on the basic meaning of this prayer to help you understand how Jesus taught us to pray.
Let’s look at what Jesus was teaching us:
“Our Father who art in Heaven”
Jesus begins with “Our Father.” This tells us that prayer is first about relationship, as we saw in May’s Newsletter.
Because of Jesus, we can come to God as our Father. We are not coming to a distant God who does not care about us. We are coming to the One who loves us and wants us to know Him.
Galatians 4:6 (NLT)
6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”
When we pray, we should come to God with confidence, knowing that He hears us.
Hebrews 4:16 (NLT)
16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
“Hallowed Be Thy Name”
To hallow God’s name means to honor, respect, and recognize His holiness and greatness.
Before we begin asking God for things, we should recognize who He is. God is our Father, but He is also holy. He deserves our reverence, worship, and respect. When we know who God is, it changes the way we approach Him.
“Thy Kingdom Come”
God’s kingdom represents His rule and authority. When we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” we are expressing our desire for God’s rule and purposes to be established. Jesus taught us to put God’s kingdom first.
Matthew 6:33 (NASB)
33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
Prayer is not just about getting God to do something for us. It is also about allowing God’s purposes to become more important to us and to work in our lives.
“Thy Will Be Done on Earth as It Is in Heaven”
This part of the prayer teaches us to desire God’s will. Jesus demonstrated this Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed:
“Not My will, but Yours, be done.”
— Luke 22:42
This does not mean that we should be afraid to ask God for what we need. Jesus encourages us to ask, seek, and knock (Matthew 7:7).
We should desire God’s will and trust Him. We can pray, “Father, I want Your will in my life. Help me to understand Your Word and follow Your direction.”
“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”
Here Jesus teaches us to bring our needs to God. Bread represents our daily necessities. God is concerned about the things we need.
Jesus said:
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’”
— Matthew 6:31
Prayer is one way we acknowledge our dependence upon our Heavenly Father. This also teaches us to trust God one day at a time rather than allowing worry about tomorrow to control us.
There is not enough room in this newsletter to finish the rest of the Lord’s Prayer. We will continue the study of the rest of the meaning it in next month’s newsletter.