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Lord, Teach Us To Pray

by Chris Simmons

The gospel of Luke reveals a great deal regarding the prayer life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We read in Luke 5:16 that “He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.” In Luke 6:12 we read how that Jesus “went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.” We then read of the Jesus’ disciples observing Him praying in Luke 11:1 and that “after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples.’” Verse 2 begins with Jesus saying, “When you pray, say: …” Jesus then prays what has been accommodatively been described as “The Lord’s Prayer.”

Ever since, people have believed that we are instructed to memorize the exact words Jesus used and then recite them exactly as He said them. The interesting thing is that when recorded in Matthew chapter 6 as part of the Sermon on the Mount, the instruction is to “pray in this way (verse 9) and was preceded by the admonition to “not use meaningless repetition (verse 7) in their prayers to God. We are to follow the “way” Jesus prayed and avoid simply repeating words or phrases we heard before. What way or manner is that? Our prayers are to be with:

  1. A view towards reverence. Jesus began with the words in Matthew 6:10, “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” The word “hallowed” means to treat as holy or sacred, to venerate or to consecrate. We need to remember and acknowledge that we are addressing the God who “made the world and all things in it” (Acts 17:24) and recognize His holiness (I Peter 1:16) and His holy name. Psalms 99:1-3, “The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake! The Lord is great in Zion, and He is exalted above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He.”

  2. A focus on God’s kingdom. Jesus prayed the words, “Your kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10) because at that time, the kingdom was “near” (Luke 10:9-11) and “at hand” (Matthew 4:17) but not yet in existence. Our prayers should include the kingdom, no longer to come (Colossians 1:13; Hebrews 12:28) but still needing our prayers for its growth, soundness, and well-being. We need to pray that the church, the kingdom, the bride of Christ, remains pure and subject to our Savior (Ephesians 5:24-27).

  3. A view to the will of God over our own. Jesus prayed in Matthew 6:10, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We need to pray that we will execute the will of God decided in heaven and revealed to man. We need to pray that we will subject our will unto God even as Jesus did in Matthew 26:39-42 (cf. John 6:38). We ought to pray that we will “live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lust of men, but for the will of God” as we read in I Peter 4:2.

  4. A view towards contentment and trust. In Matthew 6:11 we read that Jesus prayed, “give us this day our daily bread.” We are to taught to pray for what our essential daily needs are. We read in Proverbs 30:8 of a similar prayer, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion.” Praying for our “daily bread” is to pray that we can learn contentment (Philippians 4:11-12) and that we will not worry but trust Him (Matthew 6:33-34) to bless us with what we need.

  5. A view towards past sins. We need to seek God’s forgiveness for the sins that we’ve committed as we pray to God. Jesus prayed in Matthew 6:12, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” We need to pray that we have the humility to confess our sins (I John 1:9), the courage to truly repent (Acts 8:22), and the mercy to “forgive our debtors.”

  6. A view towards potential sins. We read in Matthew 6:13 that Jesus prayed, “do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” We need to pray for the strength and wisdom to beware of, flee from, and overcome temptation. We need to pray that we’ll see the “way of escape” that God has promised us when temptation comes. Paul wrote in I Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” We need to pray that we will do our job and not place ourselves in harm’s way where we know temptation lurks (Romans 13:14).

  7. A view towards God’s glory in His kingdom. Finally, Jesus prayed in Matthew 6:14, “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.” When praying, we ought to begin by recognizing the holiness of our God to whom we pray and finish by recognizing His power and glory. Truly He is the “blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords; who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light … to Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” (I Timothy 6:15-16)

May we learn to pray with persistence (Luke 11:8; 18:1) and faith (James 1:6) for those things that Jesus taught us in this prayer in Matthew 6:9-13.

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