Teach Us Lord To Pray (Revised)

There are prayers within all faiths of the world, especially Christianity, that were written and taught to be repeated word for word, syllable for syllable. I believe many of these same prayers can be and are used as a template for how to pray for the experiences the believer is currently navigating. Then there is prayer to God that is not written, but is straight, raw communication from the heart, mind and circumstances in order to receive direction or clarity.

I think many times believers and seekers of any faith get entangled in chanting the words of a prayer for divine involvement in their situation. For Christians, what is commonly known as The Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:1; Matthew 6:9-13), could easily be spoken like a mantra. Spoken like this the words hold the power and not the Messiah who taught them the prayer.

From all the astonishment, from all the amazement, from all the difficulty the Disciples encountered with the teachings of Jesus - there was one thing they asked to be taught. Daniel Kolenda says it like this -

"They never asked, 'Teach us how to do miracles, or to be dynamic communicators, or to be highly effective and successful. The one thing about His life that was so compelling and appealing that they wanted to imitate was His prayer life." (Unlocking the Miraculous Through Faith and Prayer)

Luke does record Jesus saying, "When you pray, say...", so I am not negating a total zip of the lip on speaking this prayer or any prayer for my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. However, Matthew records Jesus stating - "This, then, is how [emphasis mine] you should pray." This stress of the word "how" indicates a template of a way in which believers should pray.

"Our Father in Heaven,"

The opening greeting declares an acknowledgement of relationship and location - God is our Father through faith in Christ Jesus and He rules from His throne in Heaven.

"hallowed be your name."

The greeting continues but now acknowledges Father is not only Dad, but God and His name is to be respected.

"Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."

The word "your" emphasizes the focus believers should have. The words "kingdom" and "will" describe what of God's should be focused upon. And "earth" states where all this should happen, because this focus of His kingdom and will is already done in Heaven. This concludes the greeting section with a desire to see God's plan accomplished. This statement recognizes and releases His purpose and flow of the Holy Spirit.

"Give us today our daily bread."

One of God's many wonderful names is Jehovah Jireh - The God Who Provides. Here begins the asking. For the believer, this request is not only provision for natural needs but all other needs as well, especially spiritual.

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."

Matthew 6:14-15 records Jesus elaborating - "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." 

This does not take away your sonship/daughter-ship with God. The unforgiveness between you and God because of your unforgiveness toward someone else will cause favor to decrease and possibly halt until you forgive that someone.

"And lead us not into temptation..."

God is not a tempter. Satan is The Tempter. God may lead us to a time or to the threshold of a tempting situation - thus, this is why we pray - "and lead us not into temptations or trials or tribulations as other translations have this word.

"...but deliver us from the evil one."

This calls out another one of God's many titles as we make our last request - recognizing there is an enemy of our mind, our body and our soul, the believer cries out to Jehovah Mephalti, God Our Deliverer.

The Doxology - "For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen." - is not included in Matthew or Luke. But still remains a wonderful way to end this prayer.

Other key thoughts on prayer -

There is only one mediator of our prayers - Christ Jesus. The person you choose as mediator about anything and everything if you are a Christian, should not be a local priest, the Pope or Mary or any saint - they did not sacrifice their life for your redemption and conqueror death, Hell and the grave. "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus," (1 Timothy 2:5).

Another help is two-fold. Scripture not only instructs on the priority of our prayers to God by seeking Him first, but how often to put this into practice - in every situation.

Matthew 6:33 says, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." 

Philippians 4:6-7 states, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 

Notice there are blessings, beside God's presence, when entering holy communication with God. In Matthew those blessings are everything mentioned prior to that verse. In Philippians, the blessing is God's peace to guard your heart.

Some additional reminders - 

Make time with the Lord private/intimate. Yes, there is a time and place for corporate prayers, usually the church or small groups, but God loves one-on-one interaction and development. 

These intimate times could be similar to Christ's places - lakesides (Luke 5:1-11; Matthew 14:22-33), mountainsides (Luke 6:12; Matthew 14:23) and gardens (Matthew 26:36-46). Or you can follow His instructions from Matthew 6:6 and find a closet and make it your portal to Heaven.

One of the instances The Lord informed us not to broadcast our prayers for the sake of vanity but make prayer a more private matter is Matthew 6:5-6.

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

Approach the King of all kings and Lord of all lords in the proper manner. Believers should enter God's presence respectfully seeking His face and company first not His favor and fulfillment of a to-do list.

In Exodus 23:15; 34:20 and Deuteronomy 16:16 God comes flat out and says - "No one is to appear before me empty-handed." And in Psalm 100:4, David wrote -"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name." This speaks of the ways to proceed into God's manifest presence.

Another thing that both Christians and God are going to appreciate in prayer is brevity and humility. Matthew records Jesus saying,

"And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." (Matthew 6:7-8)

There are many in the corporate scene that could benefit from this practice. In their presentations and small group speeches they do their best to use big, impressive, fluffy words when common ones would suffice nicely. Many meetings have been nothing but these words, leading to misunderstandings and unproductiveness. This is what God wants to avoid in our meeting with Him during prayer.

Plus, the advantage of being specific with God is He will be specific with you. Ask a specific question, receive a specific answer.

Some say God's answers are in one of three forms -

1. I will do the very thing you ask.
2. Not yet.
3. I have something better for you, which is a soft way of saying "no".

James does us a great service by revealing what hinders the unanswered prayers.

"What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." (James 4:1-3)

James not only says that our desires are not aligned with God's, but that by the time we get around to looking for help we either don't ask God at all - "You do not have because you do not ask God." - or we ask God but with selfish intentions - "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

The decision comes down to having our requests match God's will/plan for our lives. How can we know God's will? By daily renewing our mind in His Word as we continually keep an open channel to Him (Romans 12:2). He will honor that request. I believe that is at the heart of the Lord's response to - Teach Us Lord To Pray.