Misunderstood...Prayer

I love Jesus’ sermon that he preached sitting on a mountainside. I hang on each word every time I read it. So much good instruction about how to live life! And one of my very favorite parts also happens to be one of the most well-known parts of the sermon—it has come to be known as “The Lord’s Prayer.” Even if you aren’t a Christian or have never been involved in some type of Christian church service, you’ve probably heard it somewhere. It generally reads something like this:

“This, then, is how you should 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 today 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 the evil one.’” (Matthew 6:9-13 NIV)

Jesus says this is how we should pray, but that doesn’t mean we must pray these exact words although there’s nothing wrong with that. However, if you just repeat the words over and over, as so many Christians have done their entire lives, but don’t grasp the ideas behind the words or even sincerely mean what you are praying, that prayer means nothing. James tells us that “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (5:16). So first, we must strive to be righteous like Jesus, and then when we pray, pray sincerely and mean what we say, not just pray some words we have memorized.

So, what does Jesus mean when he says this is how we should pray? Let’s break it down.

First, we should acknowledge who God is. He is our father, but not our earthly father. He is our Father in heaven, our Creator, the One who knows every hair on our heads. He loves us more intimately than our earthly father ever could. We should “hallow” or honor His name simply because of who He is to us and how much He loves us. People often wonder why we need to tell God that His name should be honored. He already knows that, right? Yes! He does, but do we? Do we truly understand who God is to us? When we begin our prayers this way, we acknowledge who God is not for God but for us. We need to humble ourselves when we come to the throne of the King of the universe, our Father, by acknowledging who He is. Including our acknowledgment of His place in our lives and in our prayer prepares us to pray the rest of it.

Prayer Step 1: Acknowledge who God is…in the universe and in your life.

Second, we need to acknowledge who we are to God. The words “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” are a definition of how we should be living our lives in relation to our Father. For those who have given their lives back to God, we now walk in His kingdom. Just like when Jesus sent the disciples out and told them to tell people that the kingdom of God is near, when we walk around the earth, we carry that kingdom with us. Even though we walk on the earth, we walk in God’s kingdom because He now has final rule in our lives. This is the part of the prayer when we ask God to take over our lives so that we can help His kingdom come to the people with whom we interact and to acknowledge that we are willing and eager to do His will in our lives and not our own. Later in His life when Jesus was about to be arrested, He repeated the sentiment of this part of the prayer. “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).

Prayer Step 2: Ask for God’s plan, not our own, to be done in our lives…God, what can I do for You today?

Third, we ask God to be our provider. Placing this request right after asking God to do His will in our lives makes perfect sense. If we’re going to be doing God’s work, we are going to need Him to provide for our needs, which He gladly does. As stated earlier, He is the best Father, and He takes care of the needs of His children. (For me personally this is the coolest part of my relationship with our God. Seeing how He takes care of my needs when I am focused on serving Him is always surprising and wonderful!)

Prayer Step 3: Trust your father/child or even master/servant relationship with God…if your daily activities are dedicated to Him and what you can do for Him, He will take care of your needs. (Notice I did not say your wants. There’s a difference.)

Fourth, we ask God for His forgiveness for the areas in our lives where we have failed Him. Similar to the first part of the prayer, asking for forgiveness is as much for us as it is for Him. Yes, we absolutely need to seek God’s forgiveness because we love Him, but we also need to acknowledge when we make bad choices that go against His righteousness. In turn we must forgive those who have hurt us. Holding a grudge is pride in its most injurious form, and when we refuse to forgive others, we cannot humble ourselves, which makes it impossible for God to work through us. Through recognizing and confessing our shortcomings and forgiving those of others, we are humbling ourselves so that God’s will can be done through us. We are not perfect, but through Christ’s sacrifice and God’s forgiveness, we are perfect in our Father’s eyes when we humble ourselves, admit our mistakes, accept His forgiveness, and move on with serving Him.

Prayer Step 4: Forgive whomever you need to forgive, confess your sins to God, accept His forgiveness, and then walk in that beautiful gift from Him.

Finally, we ask God to protect us from the things that tempt us to betray Him and to protect us from Satan and the powers of evil. Sometimes, we just need to cry out to our Father to protect us. Protect us from ourselves and protect us from our enemy. We don’t have to deal with these aspects alone and in our own power. We have the power of the Creator of the Universe to increase our own strength to live righteous lives that will both benefit His kingdom and increase our joy and fulfillment.

Prayer Step 5: Ask God to give you the strength to ignore temptations and to overcome Satan.

While we’re talking prayer, I would like to point out a few very common prayers in our society that are not in this prayer. Probably the most common prayer request given by believers is prayer for healing. Every little runny nose and skinned knee just about gets a prayer. Another is for travel mercies and safety. We like to ask God to keep us safe all the time, not just from evil being done, but from anything bad to happen. As my kids like to pray it, “Let us have a good day.” Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t pray for people who are sick; the bible is full of healings. We also should pray for the good things in life (as long as we don’t let our focus be on only good things). However, sometimes, in order for God’s will to be done, we may have to go through some hard stuff. The bible writers often remind us that our relationship with God grows during the hard times. If we never go through trials and tribulations, we’ll never experience God’s mighty power to work in our lives, and we’ll never experience that feeling of dire need for Him. Yes, pray for God to protect us from evil (or the evil one), but understand that sometimes, we have to go through tough times in order to grow into the righteous believers that we are meant to be and to have a testimony that can help others grow closer to our Father.

I recently read a quote from Mother Teresa that sums up my feelings on prayer, and I want to share it with you. This sentiment, right in line with the Lord’s Prayer, reminds me of how we should pray:

“I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I'm supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I'm praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.”