Four Elements of Prayer
- There is a God with whom we can communicate in prayer and who is interested enough in us to listen
- We can make requests to God in prayer
- There is something we can give as an offering / sacrifice
- Belief and faith is required
Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
- Without faith, it is impossible to please Him.
- We have a desire to please God, to come to Him.
- Must believe that He is a rewarder – that you are going to get something out of it.
- Diligently seek Him. Getting to know God does not come without some effort or sacrifice on our part.
The Model Prayer
Luke 11:1-4 1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.”
Matthew 6:9-13 9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
“Pray in this manner” = “after this fashion”. He did not say, “pray these words”. What has come to be known as The Lord’s Prayer was meant to be a model for prayer, not to substitute for our own words.
“The Lord’s Prayer” is a misnomer. There are parts of this prayer that Jesus would not pray for Himself, like “forgive us our sins…”. A more accurate name would be “The disciples’ prayer”.
Our Father
This was a New testament idea; in the Old Testament the Jews did not address God as “Father”. Prayer is to be approached on the basis of a family relationship, like children speaking with or asking for something from their parents. They have a right to be heard, and the parent has a strong desire to meet the need.
To us, “Father” sounds very formal. But is was quite a radical idea to the Jews. Galatians 4:6 says that our spirits cry out “Abba, Father”. “Abba” is what Hebrew babies would call their fathers when learning how to talk. It’s like saying “Daddy” or even “Da da”.
Which art in heaven
In prayer we need to take our eyes off the earthly, off of circumstances, and look to the source. Setting on mind on the things above (Colossians 3:2)
Hallowed be Thy name
A prayer session should always begin with praise and thanksgiving.
Psalms 100:4 4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
Praising God gets us in the right perspective and attitude. It helps us focus on how big God is. Our own problems pale in comparison.
Thankfulness expresses our gratefulness for His provision, so we’re not like kids who do nothing but say “gimme gimme gimme!”
Thy kingdom come
Our main commission as Christians is to manifest His kingdom on the earth – His rule and reign. Prayer is one of the ways we do that.
This is not a prayer for God to come and rescue us out of a corrupt planet. I think those that are looking for the rapture to rescue us out of a world that we will let go to hell is a wrong idea of what He wants us to accomplish in the earth. Jesus is coming back for a victorious bride, not a beat up one.
Thy will be done
In our personal lives, this is a prayer of consecration to God’s purpose. Like Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, “not My will, but Thine be done”. A laying aside of our own will and looking toward God for His plan and purpose in our lives.
On earth as it is in heaven
God’s will reigns supreme in heaven, not always on the earth. Why is that? God’s will is done in heaven because He has supreme authority there. It is not done on earth because He has given the authority over the earth to men.
The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of men (Psalm 115:16)
Because God has given the earth and its dominion to man, if He wants to do something in the earth, He must partner with man.
Did you know that it was just as important that Jesus was a man as it was that He was divine? He referred to Himself much more as “the Son of Man” than as the Son of God.
The first most obvious point is that as the divine Son of God, He could not die for our sins. He had to become mortal for that.
Also because He was a card carrying human being, He had all the rights and authority to operate in this earth as other human beings.
He needs us to pray that His kingdom come and will be done on earth – we invite Him to do so.
Amos 3:7 7 Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.
It’s like man has a lease on the earth. When you rent out a property and have tenants, even though you own the property, you can’t just walk right in and do whatever you want to. You have to ask permission of the tenants to enter.
Give us this day our daily bread
Now we switch over to prayers for ourselves. This is a prayer for needs being met, but not begging. It is with expectation: “Give me my bread, please”. Like a child asks a parent for lunch.
Luke 12:29-31 29 And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.
30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.
31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.
The Lords knows what we need before we ask. But He still wants us to ask.
Forgive us our debts/sins
Sin affects our fellowship, which needs to be restored.
Some Christians pray that their sins be forgiven every day. Do we need to do that, even if we are not aware of anything we need to repent of? Maybe not. Can it hurt? It depends. If it keeps you focused on what a sinner you are, that could be a hindrance.
1 John 1:8-10 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
1 John 2:1 1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
As we forgive those who trespass/sin/debtors against us
The NT has a number of places where it says our forgiveness is dependent on our forgiving others.
Mark 11:25 25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.
Matthew 6:14-15 14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
This verse in Matthew appears immediately after it has the Lord’s prayer.
Matthew 18:21-35 is the parable of the servant who was forgiven a large debt, but wouldn’t forgive another servant that owed him a much lesser amount. The king was furious and turned him over to the torturers.
Holding grudges is a very serious offense and can block you own prayers, or worse.
Lead us not into temptation
This is not to imply that God may be the source of temptation and we’re asking Him not to. James 1:13 is very clear that God tempts no one.
This is asking God to be our guide to lead us around and to avoid pitfalls and traps.
Note that the Greek word for “temptation” does not just mean a temptation to sin, but also means a test or trial.
But deliver us from evil (or the evil one)
Satan’s purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy. We ask for protection against such plots. This goes right along with praying that He leads us not into, but around temptations, tests, or trials.
1 Corinthians 10:13 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Once again the word translated “temptation” here can mean a temptation, test or trial. Look for the exit sign!
For Thine is the kingdom, power, glory, forever
This is added in the parallel passage in Matt 6:13. Just as we began the prayer with praise and worship, we end the prayer with it.
I had the opportunity to teach this at the Wednesday night Life Group at Light the Bay church.
