Praying The Lord’s Prayer
Southaven, Ms
By: Mike Upchurch
Have you pondered or studied the Lord’s Prayer lately? When Jesus was asked to teach His disciples to pray, He gave them the perfect model when He gave them the Lord’s Prayer. It’s timeless, and our prayers of today should reflect this same structure. Not that we should pray the Lord’s Prayer just as He did over and over in repetition, but that we should use the outline laid out in that prayer. Let’s break down that prayer found in Matthew 6:9-13 and see what our prayers should look like today.
It begins this way…..
•Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…..
Jesus was being clear that our prayers must always begin with addressing Him not just as Deity, but also as a loving Father. Our prayers must begin with worship as well. The word hallowed means holy and revered.
So begin by acknowledging His position in our lives is one of a loving Father, but also that He is a Holy God and that we are in awe. Start with worship!
•Thy kingdom come…..
There should be an acknowledgement of the Sovereignty of God. That He does rule over a Kingdom and that we are eagerly awaiting the establishment of that eternal Kingdom here on earth.
•Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven…..
We should give Him permission to act according to His plan and will, not only for our lives, but throughout our Nation as well.
•Give us this day our daily bread…..
Notice that in the way Jesus laid out the prayer, before we ask anything of Him, we should have begun with worship and recognized His authority. Then, and ONLY then, we should ask humbly that He meet our needs for the day. For the DAY, not a month’s worth of babbling on about us and how needy we are, but the needs of the day will be sufficient. He is a mighty God and certainly able to do so. And further, when we acknowledge at the end of the day that those needs of that day were met, He receives the glory.
•And forgive us our debts…..
Our debts are our sins. We should certainly repent in our prayers for the sins we commit, knowing He is faithful and just to forgive them.
•As we forgive our debtors…..
And we should acknowledge that we are forgiving those who have wronged us or sinned against us. Forgiving and FORGETTING as He is doing for us. Daily!
•And lead us
not into temptation…..
As He is our Good Shepherd, we should request that He won’t allow us to be taken to places where we will be tempted to sin by the enemy.
•But deliver us from evil…..
And that as our Good Shepherd, we should ask that He protect us from the enemy, and show us the traps he has set for us. And to deliver us from traps that we unfortunately fall into.
•For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, for ever…..
And we should close with worship and the acknowledgement that God owns the Kingdom He rules over, and that He has all the power and all the glory is His as well, and we rejoice that He will reign forever!
•Amen.
So be it Lord.
If you’ll pray in this manner, I can guarantee you will see results in your life and in your relationship with Him, the object of your adoration!
And that’s the way I see it!
Pastor Mike
