(Note: While this article was written with elders’ wives and other Christian women in mind, we hope all of our readers will enjoy it and share it with others who might benefit from it.)
Our Father, who art in heaven—how often do we think about the substance packed into those six words? Many of us grew up reciting them as rote prayers, and their familiarity robs them of their impact. But when Jesus taught his disciples to pray in the Sermon on the Mount, “Our Father” is where he began.
Becoming God’s children when we are born again through faith in Jesus is a birthright unique to believers (John 1:12)—and when that sinks in, our prayers come to life. Do we realize that when we pray, we’re not fulfilling a duty but conversing with a loving and responsive Father who wants to give his children good gifts when we ask (Matt. 7:9-11)?
The Lord’s prayer is not the Bible’s only prototype for prayer (we can learn much from the psalms and Paul’s prayers in the epistles, for example), but using it as a template when we pray helps us think rightly about God, align our priorities with his, and seek him for everything we need. This is how our Savior, who lived in perfect and ceaseless communion with his Father, taught us to pray:
“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’” (Matt. 6:9-13).
In The Lord’s Prayer: Learning from Jesus on What, Why, and How to Pray, Kevin DeYoung notes that the six petitions in the Lord’s prayer fall into two categories: God’s glory (the first three) and our good (the last three). The order is not to be missed.
Three Prayers Concerning God’s Glory
The fact that prayer starts with God’s name, God’s kingdom, and God’s will says much about what our priorities should be. Before we present God with our list of concerns, we must orient ourselves with what matters most to God: his glory.
- Hallowed be your name.
Help us to honor your name in our hearts, on our lips, and in our conduct in our homes and neighborhoods and workplaces—everywhere we have influence. Help us to make you known to the unsaved people in our lives so that they will come to faith and join the ranks of those who hallow your name on earth.
- Your kingdom come.
Lord, we grieve over the brokenness of this world. War, sickness, and sin abound, and we joyfully await the day when you will establish your kingdom and set everything right. And yet we know that the coming of your kingdom means the coming of a day when it will be too late for unbelievers to be saved. Their time is now. Give us boldness and urgency to share the good news. Open the hearts and minds of those who need to hear it. Help us to live in light of eternity, remembering that we will someday stand before Christ’s judgment seat to give an account of how we used our lives for you.
- Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Lord, as much as we would love to know exactly which step you want us to take at every crossroads in our lives, we know that doing your will ultimately means obeying the instructions you have revealed in your word. Help us today to do what you command.
DeYoung notes that the next three petitions focus on our good and whisper of the Trinity’s work in our lives: provision (given by God the Father), forgiveness (made possible by the atoning sacrifice of God the Son), and protection from evil (provided by the Holy Spirit).
- Give us this day our daily bread.
so he can feed us every day.”
-Kevin DeYoung
DeYoung writes, “God doesn’t take care of us like my family would take care of our guinea pig. If we were going out of town for a few days, we figured we just needed to pour our three or four days of food for the guinea pig. ‘There you go, Fluffy, a big, huge mound of food. Don’t eat it all at once. We’ll see you on Monday.’ Is that all you want from your heavenly Father—just a big pile of treats so you can gorge yourself and not see him very often? That’s not what we really need. And thankfully, that’s not what God gives us. He wants us to come every day so he can meet us every day so he can feed us every day.”
Smith says on Open the Bible, “The word ‘daily’ reminds us that God has a track record of faithfulness. He has been providing for billions of people across every continent of the world, and He has been doing this on a daily basis for thousands of years. Someone has said, ‘When you come to God and ask for a new blessing be sure you bring Him a receipt for the previous one. Peter Lewis says this well: ‘We urge God to write new checks for us but rarely flick through His check stubs. If we did we would find our name attached to innumerable gifts and benefits, protections and provisions.’”
Father, as I ask you to meet my needs today, I confess that I so often fail to thank you for the multitude of blessings you give me every day. I forget how fragile my life really is and how kind you are to give me everything I need. Food, shelter, breath in my lungs—it all comes from you. I trust that you will provide for me today.
- Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
When we sin against our spouse, we remain married, but until we apologize there’s a barrier in our relationship. It’s no different with our heavenly Father. Jesus told Peter while washing his feet, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean” (John 13:10). We are “completely clean” through faith in Christ, but fellowship with God requires the daily foot washing of confessing sin and asking for forgiveness. And when we ask, God also wants us to consider whether we’re extending the same forgiveness we’re seeking for ourselves. Lars Anderson provides a helpful template for this in “The Four Rs of Forgiveness.”
As I confess my sins, Lord, help me to forgive those who have sinned against me. As one whose need for forgiveness is massive, I know that it is wrong of me to harbor unforgiveness toward others, but in my fallenness I struggle to let go of hurts. My heart’s desire is to forgive as I have been forgiven; please help me to do so.
- Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
Most days we wake up so consumed with our to-do lists that we forget we are wrestling “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). When we pray “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil,” we are stepping into the armor of God to prepare for the battle (Eph. 6:10-20). God will never entice us to sin (James 1:13), but he will test our faith through various trials, and he will sometimes give Satan permission to test us (Job 1:6-12). This petition puts us in the mindset to anticipate those tests so we are not caught off guard, and to be ready to respond to them in godly ways (Job 1:20-22; James 1:2-4, 12; 1 Peter 1:6-7).
Thank you that I am sealed and indwelt by your Spirit—he who is in me is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Protect me from Satan’s schemes, and if trials come today, help me to embrace them as friends sent by you to mature my faith. Keep me from sin, and help me respond honorably to whatever comes my way today.
Photo by Olivia Snow on Unsplash