Silas
Beloved of All
It is encouraging to see your heart to seek the Father first in prayer and to take the words Jesus gave us seriously rather than repeating them without thought.
What Jesus taught in Matthew 6:9-13 was given as a pattern to shape our praying, not as empty words to recite from memory. Its greatest value comes when you move through it slowly, phrase by phrase, meditating on what each petition means and praying it with expectation that God hears.
Notice how the prayer begins and ends with God. It starts with relationship, Our Father who is in heaven. That relationship is only possible because God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, and through His death, burial and resurrection we are declared not guilty and adopted as children. By the Holy Spirit we can now genuinely call Him Father, even Abba, with the same intimate confidence Jesus had. If that relationship is not there through faith in Jesus Christ, prayer has no foundation. But when you have received Him, you are His child and He invites you to come as a child to a Father.
The first three requests are all centered on Him, not on us. Hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Our primary thrust in prayer should be for His honor, His rule and His purposes to be accomplished. To hallow His name is to ask that His character and all that He has revealed about Himself would be honored in our thoughts, words and actions, and that His name would not be misused or dishonored among people. To pray for His kingdom to come is to long for His righteousness, peace and joy to reign in us and through us now, and to look forward to the day when Jesus will fully establish His kingdom and remove the kingdom of darkness. Scripture closes with that same longing, even so come Lord Jesus. To pray for His will to be done is to submit our lives to be led by His Spirit, to hear His voice, to abide in Christ and bear fruit, and to see His will accomplished in the church and in the world.
Only after seeking His kingdom first does the prayer turn to our personal needs, and those needs are summed up in four basic areas. Give us this day our daily bread covers every need, spiritual, physical, emotional and material, recognizing that we live by every word that comes from God and trusting Him to provide so we can love Him and love our neighbor. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors reminds us that we must confess our sins and receive His forgiveness, and that this request is linked to our willingness to forgive those who have sinned against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil is a plea for guidance and protection, that God would keep us from the path that draws us into the flesh and would rescue us from the evil one. Temptation itself is not sin, Jesus Himself was tempted, but sin comes when we yield to the desire of the flesh. The prayer is not to try to cast out darkness by focusing on darkness, but to invite the light of Christ in, for when He enters, darkness must leave.
The prayer then returns to worship, for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Authentic prayer includes this awe and adoration, not only asking for things but recognizing His greatness. It also includes intercession for others and petition for ourselves, always with the understanding that prayer is not a tool to make our own will happen on earth, but to see His will done.
Continue to pray this pattern with a thoughtful heart, beginning with worship and surrender to His kingdom, bringing your daily needs and your need for forgiveness and guidance to Him, extending forgiveness to others, and closing with praise and trust in His everlasting kingdom and power.
What Jesus taught in Matthew 6:9-13 was given as a pattern to shape our praying, not as empty words to recite from memory. Its greatest value comes when you move through it slowly, phrase by phrase, meditating on what each petition means and praying it with expectation that God hears.
Notice how the prayer begins and ends with God. It starts with relationship, Our Father who is in heaven. That relationship is only possible because God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, and through His death, burial and resurrection we are declared not guilty and adopted as children. By the Holy Spirit we can now genuinely call Him Father, even Abba, with the same intimate confidence Jesus had. If that relationship is not there through faith in Jesus Christ, prayer has no foundation. But when you have received Him, you are His child and He invites you to come as a child to a Father.
The first three requests are all centered on Him, not on us. Hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Our primary thrust in prayer should be for His honor, His rule and His purposes to be accomplished. To hallow His name is to ask that His character and all that He has revealed about Himself would be honored in our thoughts, words and actions, and that His name would not be misused or dishonored among people. To pray for His kingdom to come is to long for His righteousness, peace and joy to reign in us and through us now, and to look forward to the day when Jesus will fully establish His kingdom and remove the kingdom of darkness. Scripture closes with that same longing, even so come Lord Jesus. To pray for His will to be done is to submit our lives to be led by His Spirit, to hear His voice, to abide in Christ and bear fruit, and to see His will accomplished in the church and in the world.
Only after seeking His kingdom first does the prayer turn to our personal needs, and those needs are summed up in four basic areas. Give us this day our daily bread covers every need, spiritual, physical, emotional and material, recognizing that we live by every word that comes from God and trusting Him to provide so we can love Him and love our neighbor. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors reminds us that we must confess our sins and receive His forgiveness, and that this request is linked to our willingness to forgive those who have sinned against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil is a plea for guidance and protection, that God would keep us from the path that draws us into the flesh and would rescue us from the evil one. Temptation itself is not sin, Jesus Himself was tempted, but sin comes when we yield to the desire of the flesh. The prayer is not to try to cast out darkness by focusing on darkness, but to invite the light of Christ in, for when He enters, darkness must leave.
The prayer then returns to worship, for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Authentic prayer includes this awe and adoration, not only asking for things but recognizing His greatness. It also includes intercession for others and petition for ourselves, always with the understanding that prayer is not a tool to make our own will happen on earth, but to see His will done.
Continue to pray this pattern with a thoughtful heart, beginning with worship and surrender to His kingdom, bringing your daily needs and your need for forgiveness and guidance to Him, extending forgiveness to others, and closing with praise and trust in His everlasting kingdom and power.
