Jesus taught his disciples how to pray in His sermon recorded in Matthew 5-6. The prayer is found in 6:9-13:
“In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
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.”
This prayer rather unfortunately has been designated as the Lord’s Prayer. I say unfortunately because it has become the practice of many to recite it as a prayer to God, rather than offering prayers “in this manner.”
There are a few problems with recitation. Now, I am not contending that a recited prayer is absolutely wrong. In fact, I have often encouraged one who is nervous leading prayer in public to prepare their prayer ahead of time, and read it before the congregation.
When, however, the recitation is done in a perfunctory fashion, it can’t be said that the worshipper is doing it “in spirit and in truth.” Mindless recitation and vain repetitions are unacceptable sacrifices of the lips. Just two verses previous, Jesus told His disciples, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them…” (7-8). How sad that so many have done this very thing by making this model prayer a vain repetition where the heart is not present.
Consider the form of the prayer. Praise is offered to God, “Hallowed be Your name.” There is an acknowledgement of God’s authority and preeminence, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done.” There are petitions made for physical needs, “Give us this day our daily bread” as well as spiritual needs, “And forgive us our debts.” There is a petition for guidance and strength, “do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”. There is an acknowledgement of God’s eternal preeminence, “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”
This serves as a model framework for the prayers we offer to God. We should acknowledge and praise Him. We should thank him for what we have, and ask from Him what we and others need. Spiritual needs and thanksgiving should be central to our prayers. In all things we should acknowledge His authority and preeminence, and express our willingness to abide by His will.
In doing this, we accomplish much more than if we mindlessly recite the actual words of the text. Remember, acceptable worship is not merely correct in form. It must be heartfelt.
One final note. In this prayer, Jesus prayed to the Father, “your kingdom come.” The coming of the kingdom was integral to the scheme of redemption formed in God’s mind. It was right for the disciples to pray for its coming. We rejoice that the kingdom was established (cf. Acts 1 & 2). We are so fortunate that when we are baptized into Christ, we are conveyed “into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).
How sad it is that so many mindlessly call for the kingdom of God to be established, when that petition has already been granted by God! Instead we should be thanking God for answering that request by bringing in the kingdom with power (cf. Mark 9:1).
Christ’s model prayer for man serves as a template for our own prayers. As we pray in Jesus’ name, with hope and faith, we are so grateful we have a Father who hears and answers us!
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