Jesus Teaches Us How to Pray
I like to be prepared. My wife would say sometimes I like to be over prepared. The words, “Just get on with it” have been launched my way more than once. But before I launch out on this experiment I really want to get at least a few tracks to run on as to how to pray. I know there are many techniques and strategies for prayer out there. Where does one begin?
To anyone who knows me, they would not be surprised that I found the answer to this one in a book. For a question this important, I went straight to the most important book on the subject: the Bible.
In Matthew Chapter 6, Jesus instructs his disciples with the following words:
Pray then like this: “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 also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:9-15, ESV)
This is the famous Lord’s Prayer. Many people have heard it. Many of us have prayed it. I prayed it almost every night as a child. It is familiar. It is comforting. But what many people don’t realize is that Jesus is not here giving us a prayer to recite, but a model for prayer. The opening words clue us in to this. Pray then like this. Pray this way. I like how the New International Version translates it as “This, then, is how you should pray . . .” Jesus gives us, in the lines of this familiar prayer, an outline to guide us in our prayer.
The Essential Elements of a Healthy Prayer Life According to Jesus
Let’s work our way through this prayer, taking a look at each part and learning what our times of prayer need to include.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
Hallowed is a word we don’t often use anymore. As I think about it, the only time I have ever heard the word used was to refer to the hallowed halls of something or other. The word was being used to indicate that this hall was special. It was different from other halls. Worthy of notice.
This usage is not far off from what Jesus is trying to teach us. The word hallowed comes from a Greek word that means to make holy, or to set something apart as holy. To recognize God as holy – or hallowed – is to recognize that He is something special. To acknowledge that His name is distinct from and superior to all other names.
In prayer, this is simply praise to God. To make hallowed his name is to praise him. Lift him up. Acknowledge his attributes. Give glory to God.
Recognize however that praise is different from thanksgiving. To give thanks to God is to express gratitude for what he has done. “Thank you Lord for providing the money I needed to pay for the rent.” To praise God is to extol him for who he is. “God, you are a generous God who provides for his people exactly what they need.”
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Jesus preached often about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is the presence and rule of God. In the kingdom, life is the way God intended it to be: full of love, justice and peace. The world clearly is not that way now. This makes sense when we understand that the New Testament gives us a picture of the kingdom as one that has started, but has not yet been fully realized. The kingdom of God has broken in to our world, but it does not yet encompass all. The kingdom is present and it is growing.
Our prayers then need to be that the world will look increasingly like his kingdom. We should pray that his people act more and more like citizens of this kingdom. That his people do his will. And we should pray that the world around us will see how we treat each other and join us in creating a place like the kingdom of God.
The prayer for the kingdom to come is where we pray for justice and unity.
“Give us this day our daily bread,”
Jesus tells us to ask for daily bread. I need to eat to stay alive. You probably do too. Jesus acknowledges needs. He knows we need food, water, heat, and shelter. He knows we need money to pay the rent and buy medicine. Jesus knows we have needs. And he tells us to pray for them. It is right to take our needs to God.
Ask God to supply what is needed. Ask specifically. If one needs $200 more to pay the rent, boldly pray for $200. Pray confidently. Wait patiently.
Before you start running through the want list with God though, we must make sure to discern between needs and wants. A bigger TV is not a need. Money to keep the heat on during an Upper Peninsula Michigan winter is a need. Money to keep the cable TV going over those winter months is not. Be discerning. God promises to meet our needs. He never promises to give us everything we want. Remember, he is the sovereign God of the universe who is working out his plan. He is not Santa Clause.
As we become practiced in praying, do not forget to recognize when God answers prayer. I used to think God never answered many of my prayers. Then I was given a challenge. A mentor challenged me to write down what I prayed for and check the list every time I prayed. Turns out, if I slowed down the rate of requests just enough to remember what I asked for, I started to see that God actually was answering prayers and working around me. So, remember what you prayed for, and recognize the answered prayers. Then express your gratitude. Tell your generous Father in heaven “Thank You!”
“and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
Jesus tells us to ask God to forgive us our debts. He is not telling us to ask God to get us out of financial trouble. Nor is he telling us to ask him to make our credit card bills go away. He is talking about the personal debts we owe to him. These debts are the debts that accrue when we sin.
Every one of us has all sinned. We can all think about something we should have done – but did not. We can also probably remember something we should not have done – but did anyway. This willful sin builds up a debt between us and our Heavenly Father. This sin does not take away our salvation. Our relationship with God is fixed and secure because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Our fellowship with God, however, our ability to connect and enjoy our relationship with God, is disrupted by this sin.
The solution to this disruption is to ask God to forgive us our debts. It is to confess to God our sins. To confess our sin means to openly admit what we did and agree with God that is was wrong. Then repent – commit to turn away from that sin. After confessing any sin we are aware of, continue to commune with God with a clear conscience.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
There is a war going on around us. We cannot always see it. Swirling around us is a violent conflict between Satan and his demons versus the Kingdom of God. These enemies concentrate on wreaking havoc in the lives of believers.
Jesus tells us to pray for protection. Pray that we will not be led into temptation. Ask God for the wisdom to recognize a trap laid by the enemy. Ask for the courage to walk away from the trap, regardless of how inviting it looks. Pray that you don’t fall for the lies.
Jesus tells us also to pray for deliverance. Our enemies will not only launch temptations at us, they may try to afflict us more directly. Ask God to shield us from the assaults of the enemy. Pray that God will keep the enemy at bay, at a great enough distance to not be able to harm you.
Be forewarned. If you decide to embark on a prayer challenge of your own, if you decide to try to become a person of prayer, expect the attack to come. Know the enemy does not want you to pray. The enemy does not want us to feel close to or connected to God. As we try to move closer to God, expect the enemy to try to move us apart. So, make sure to pray for protection.
A Balanced Prayer Life
We are presented with the essential elements of a balanced prayer life in the Lord’s Prayer: praise, justice and unity, personal requests, confession, and protection from the enemy.
This understanding of prayer is so much more diverse and engaging than my early understanding of what prayer was. Early on, I understood prayer as only making requests to God. Honestly, I was dumbfounded when I heard about people who prayed for hours. How could you spend hours just asking God for things? It made no sense to me how anyone without an iron will would be able to that. Or even desire to. But expanding my understanding of prayer with all these different categories changes my expectations of prayer. Praying like this can be a much more relational experience. It can be a much more engaging experience.
As I look to renovate my prayer life, this outline presented by Jesus will serve as the tracks I run on. I will strive to incorporate each of these components into my daily time of prayer. And that 30 minutes figure seems a lot less daunting when I realize I only need to pray for six minutes in each one to reach my goal!
Go to our Tool Box page and download a simple one-page guide to praying the way Jesus showed us that you can print out and use to give you tracks to run on as you pray.
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