This month, I want to take a journey through prayer. We will explore the depths of prayer and develop a closer relationship with God using Scripture. Grab your Bible, a journal, and your favorite beverage, and join me as we learn to address God with reverence and seek His Kingdom. Align our wills with His, depend on Him for our daily provisions, and embrace forgiveness.
We find the model prayer in both the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray. Luke’s Gospel, the disciples asked him to teach them because they had been watching him go off alone to pray.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus gives his Sermon on the Mount and teaches the 5000. In this teaching, Jesus illustrates how to pray rather than prescribing necessary words.
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners so that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father, who is in secret. And your Father, who sees you in secret, will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Matthew 6:5-8
In these verses, Jesus warns us about the different types of dysfunctional prayers. Jesus’ next instruction is to pray in a quiet place, and God will meet us there. We should spend most of our time on this type of prayer.
When we pray with others, Jesus reminds us not to use “babbling” words. They are gibberish motivated by religious showmanship. Also, genuine and effective prayers do not need to be long.
In verse 9, Jesus teaches us to “pray like this” rather than “pray this way.” He demonstrates that this prayer is a model rather than a mantra to recite.
By using the word “Our,” Jesus intends this prayer to serve as a model for corporate prayer, meaning we are to use it when we pray together.
“Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Matthew 6:9
God’s name in the Bible sums up God’s character, the fullness of who he is. The word “hollow” means to set apart as sacred and pure to honor.
The prophet Isaiah caught a glimpse of God’s holy character. After the king of Judah had died, he felt insecure and fearful. Then, the Lord showed him a vision that changed his life.
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two, he covered his face, and with two, he covered his feet, and with two, he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah 6:1-7
As you read Isaiah, look for God’s character and how he responds to Isaiah’s confession. Now, put yourself in Isaiah’s shoes. What are you thinking and feeling? Have you had an experience like Isaiah’s —an overwhelming sense of God’s glory and your weakness and failure?
“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” Isaiah 6:8
When God cleansed Isaiah, it produced a heart of obedience. Is God asking you to do something? If so, what will it cost you to obey and say, “Here I am, send me?”
When you hear the word Kingdom, what comes to mind? Territories, an empire? In the New Testament, the Kingdom of God is not territory. This term describes God’s reign.
God’s Kingdom extends to the hearts of all who acknowledge him as king, submit to his rule, and desire God in every area of life.
To pray your “Kingdom come” is to ask God the Father to expand his rule over the territory of our hearts and lives and express our willingness to submit to His authority, whatever the cost.
When the Israelites left Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness. They hadn’t traveled long when they began complaining about the food, so God sent them manna from heaven—enough for each day.
Today, we don’t have to worry about food like the Israelites. But worrying is easy when we face a job downsizing or financial difficulties. We know God will provide, but we often fear he won’t be in our” right now” crisis.
But his words remind us that He will always provide, and we need to seek Him.
The 5th teaching in the Lord’s Prayer is for forgiveness. Jesus knew that we would need forgiveness every day.
Peter gives us an excellent example of forgiving others. One day, he tried to impress Jesus by saying he would forgive people up to seven times. Jesus was not impressed.
Genuine forgiveness doesn’t keep a record, and genuine forgivers don’t keep count.
“Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from Evil.” Matthew 6:13. The word temptation can mean to entice to do wrong, but it can also mean to put to the test.
The same experiences we face can be both a temptation to do wrong and a test of our commitment to do right. Our enemy, Satan, the evil one, wants us to fail that test. But God has given us all the tools we need to pass the test, and as a result, we will be strengthened in our walk of obedience.
Most of us end the Lord’s Prayer with “For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.” But these words were not in early copies of Matthew’s Gospel. Today, most translations do not include them in the main text but instead place them in footnotes.
Some scholars believe these were not in the original prayer but were added later by the early Christians as the prayer began to be used in public worship.
When we read this prayer as it is, it never really concludes; it just stops. It’s like Jesus deliberately left it open-ended. He may want us to have the opportunity to respond spontaneously to his prayer. The early church did this through worship and adoration.
Jesus taught us this model prayer to guide us when we talk to God. When we pray using this model, we will pray God’s will, and He will hear us. I encourage you to read and study both Matthew’s and Luke’s versions.
Get a journal and begin writing your prayers using the Lord’s Prayer as the model. Look up scriptures to use for each part of the prayer.
Remember, though, that prayer is a conversation with God; talk to him. He wants to hear from you!
Exodus 16
Luke12:22-34
Matthew 18:21-35
https://www.bible.com/bible/59/MAT.6.5-8
https://www.bible.com/bible/59/MAT.6.9
https://www.bible.com/bible/59/ISA.6.1-7
https://www.bible.com/bible/59/ISA.6.8
