A question that goes along with this one is, how do we pray? First, it is important to understand that prayer is nothing more than talking to the Lord our God. We do not need to change our voice to sound more reverent, we do not need a specific formula, or physical positioning and we most certainly do not need to chant. We might be driving on icy streets and simply ask the Lord to keep us safe. This then raises questions, then why do we tend to close our eyes and bow our head? Why is it that that getting down on our knees seems to be appropriate? Did not our Lord even teach a certain pattern for prayer in what is known as the Lord’s prayer? Let us take a moment and think through the whole issue of prayer. As with everything, we must begin with proper theology. The Lord our God exists in 3 persons, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. We pray to our Father in heaven, through the Son in His name and in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Lord our God is sovereign over all things, He knows all things, He is all powerful so that He can do something about what He knows and whatever He does is the good and right thing. Our Lord’s disciples asked Him to teach them to pray and our Lord responded by teaching them what has become known as the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:1-5). Let us examine this prayer more closely.
We are going to look at this prayer as an index prayer, which is typical of the teachings of the Rabbis. It is true that our Lord stated, when you pray say (Lu. 11:2); in Matthew it is “Pray then like this:” (6:9). There are those who go on to teach that we are to pray this prayer by rote, as we look at the subject of prayer in this context, we will discover that there is much more to prayer than the saying of these words. Therefore, we will look at these indexes and see how we can fill in more details as we pray. We will continue from the text in Matthew 6:9-13 using the ESV.
We begin with our “Father in heaven” The prayer begins with our Father which denotes a relationship, those with a relationship have a deeper and more meaningful communication. Those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ have that relationship. Therefore, we can address the Lord God as our Father. We read more of this relationship in Romans, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba Father!’(8:14,15). Abba is a non-translated word which is Father or Daddy. The expression is one of a son who is excited in the presence of his father and shouts out “Daddy, Daddy”! Again, in I John we read, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God; and so we are.” (3:1). When we believe on the Lord Jesus, we have eternal life (John 3:16) and we have this special relationship of being sons and children of God and call Him Father.
Our Father is in heaven, (Vs 9). The word here is actually plural or it can read “in the heavens”. This is an important point because we tend to think of the Lord as being up in a special place in heaven, looking down upon us. In fact, our Lord is omnipresent, which is that He is present everywhere at the same time. He is not limited by time, space or matter but is right here with us as we pray.
His name is holy and is to be hallowed (Vs 9). The word hallowed comes from the root word hagios which is that which is to be revered and is worthy of veneration (see Thayer’s Greek Lexicon pg. 6-7) It also means to be separate from sin and separated unto the Lord as in the case of sacrifices in the Old Testament and of our lives as a holy sacrifice (Romans 12:1). This is also the root word for holy, hallow, sanctify, sanctification and saint. Generally speaking, when we see these words. they have the meaning of being separate from sin unto righteousness. In this context, it is appropriate to think in terms of that which is holy, the Lord our God. Therefore, when we pray, we should do so in a reverent manner, much like what we read in Ecclesiastes, “Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few.” (5:2). Even though we have the privilege of this relationship between a child and a father, we do not abuse this privilege but we maintain a respectful attitude in our prayer. This is why we adopt a respectful and reverent physical position while we pray, with out head bowed and eyes closed and even on our knees. By closing our eyes, we can better focus on the Lord our God and not on things going on around us. Men are to take their hats off and women are to cover the heads as we read in I Corinthians 11:4-8.
We are to pray toward His kingdom to come. Here we need to think through what is meant by the kingdom. The word kingdom and especially the phrase the kingdom of heaven is used a lot in the gospel of Matthew. The reason for that is because the theme of this gospel is the Lord Jesus as king. Our Lord is presented as the king and He and His kingdom are being offered to Israel for the last time. The basic definition of the kingdom is that which is ruled by a king. The word for kingdom places a greater emphasis on the king than on his realm or territory. This is certainly the case here in the Scriptures. When our Lord speaks of the kingdom, He is speaking of His rule as king and this is something that we can pray as well. It is also true that there is a real physical kingdom that is coming which is known as the millennial kingdom which is the 1,000 year reign of Christ that takes place at the end of the tribulation. For the present, our prayer is that people will respond to the gospel and believe on the Lord Jesus and His rule over their lives. To pray “your kingdom come” is to pray for more souls to be saved and it is to pray for the coming of our Lord, first to rapture the Church and second to set up His earthly kingdom as prophesied.
In connection with the lordship of our Lord Jesus, we are to pray that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Here the word heaven is in the singular, as we are seeing the realm of the heavenly beings. In this realm, angels do what they are told, this is why they were created. The one exception, of course, is the devil and the angels who fell with him out of heaven. In heaven, the angels do not question the will of the Lord, they just do it and they do it immediately. There is no waiting until I get around to it or when I have time or I need more evidence that this is actually the will of the Lord God. So, when we pray, we pray that His will is done on earth in this same manner. So many believers make knowing the will of God so very complicated, if we would just do the clear teaching of Scripture, we would have plenty to do without the guess work of what is the will of God for our lives. We can begin with “make disciples of the nations” (Matthew 28:19) which is an imperative. Doing this would make a big difference in our world.
We are to pray for our daily bread. We believe that this is an expression of our daily provision. It is common in Scriptures for bread to represent what we need, particularly as food or a meal. To break bread is to have a meal with someone or to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. In the Old Testament book of Exodus, we see how the Lord provided manna for Israel to eat in the wilderness, there was always enough manna for each day and then more on Friday so that they would not have to gather on the Sabbath day (see Exodus 16). The manna was enough for each person, each day. The Lord provides for us what we need for each day. It is interesting that our Lord Jesus referred to Himself as the manna/bread from heaven (John 6:30 51). The Lord is all that we need just as we read in Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Vs 1). We pray and then live in the reality that what we need will be provided and there is no need to be anxious (see Philippians 4:6-7, 19). This is followed by one of the most difficult of doctrines in the Bible, “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Vs 12). This is elaborated on in verses 14 and 15 where we are admonished that if we do not forgive those who have trespassed against us, then the Lord will not forgive us in our trespasses against Him. Forgiveness goes back to our relationship with the Lord our God as our heavenly Father. When we stop and think about all that the Lord has forgiven us, not only in the past but also in the future, we are compelled to follow His example and do as He has done. When we do not forgive others, it becomes a burden upon our soul which will weigh us down and make us ineffective as disciples of the Lord Jesus. In the book of Hebrews, it is spoken of as a root of bitterness that will grow and not only affect us, but others as well (Hebrews 12:14-15). The work of forgiveness is difficult because it goes against our nature, which is to strike out for revenge. Our Lord’s teaching, in this same sermon, was that we are to turn the other cheek (Mt. 5:38-42). Also, we are taught that vengeance belongs to the Lord and He will be the one to repay and we are to feed our enemies and give them to drink and we will heap coals of fire on their head (Romans 12:17-21). In this manner we overcome evil with good rather than have evil overcome our good. A lot of teaching is given in this area, and the only way in which we can obey it and carry it out in our lives is to pray always that we forgive those who trespass against us.
We pray that we are not led into temptation and if so, that we be delivered from the evil one. It was by temptation that sin entered into the world in the first place, when the woman looked at the forbidden fruit and “saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise,” (Genesis 3:6). We note here the threefold temptation of man. Our Lord was tempted in the same way with turning rocks into bread, jump off a pinnacle of the temple, and worship the Devil and he will give the kingdoms of the world (Matthew 4:1-11). The first Adam, sinned by yielding to the temptation; while the last Adam, Christ, proved He is God, by His obedience (Romans 5:12-21). There are at least 3 things that we can learn concerning temptation. 1. There is no temptation so great as to overwhelm us, as the Lord will provide a way of escape (I Corinthians 10:13); 2. No one can say, when he is tempted that he is tempted by God, but rather it will be because of his own desires (James 1:13-14); 3. We shall be kept from the ultimate time of trial on the earth (Revelation 3:10). We know that the temptation to go outside of the will of God and to sin is very strong, “Then when desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:15); and “For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.” We can go on and on with passages of Scripture which teach us the evil and the tragedy of yielding to the temptation of our own lust, but we will suffice it to say that for this reason, we are to pray, lead us not into temptation.
Despite the fact, that we pray that we are not led into temptation, we understand that still can and does happen with terrible results. Therefore, we pray that when it does, it does not so far as to be delivered over to the evil one. In other translations, this part of the prayer is translated just evil, but with newer translations, it is more often translated the evil one. The devil is the prince and power of the air (Ephesians 2:2; 6:12). He is the great tempter, as he was in the garden, so shall he be throughout time (Mattew 4:3; Revelation 20:10). Let us not be overcome with the sin that has beset us and the devil who is behind it all, but deliver us from this evil and especially the evil one. The Epistles are filled with warnings against falling into sin, therefore, it must be a very real problem. Therefore, it behooves us to pray often, lead us not into temptation and deliver us from the evil one.
The doxology of, “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” Is not included in the best manuscripts of either the Greek or the Latin and is not included in the account of Luke. There is certainly nothing wrong with it and it is in keeping with the teaching of the rest of Scriptures. It closes with bringing glory to the Lord our God which is always good.
Using this prayer as an index prayer, we can site each heading and then fill in underneath them with our particulars and whatever the Holy Spirit will lay upon our hearts. There are many other references to prayer and we shall look at a few of them, to help us through our prayer life. Before our Lord taught this prayer, He had already taught that when we pray, we are not to pray as a show or in an ostentatious manner, like what the hypocrites do when they pray out in public so everyone can see how holy they are, we go in private behind closed doors (Mattew 6:5-6). We do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, we do not chant or recite the same things repeatedly. We simply talk to the Lord and we can fill in the indexes of the prayer the Lord taught. (vs 7). In the Gospel of Luke we have more teaching on prayer by our Lord in chapter 11. There we are taught to be persistent in our prayers, to pray and keep on praying. Such as a friend who comes in the middle of the night asking for bread, but you have gone to bed and you do not want to get up, nevertheless because he keeps on asking and is persistent, then you will get out of bed and give it to him, (vs 5-8). In our praying we are to, “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (vs 9 ff). Then there is a reference back to our relationship with our heavenly Father who will give to His children (vs 11-13).
Our Lord also taught us to pray in view of His coming, that we do not get caught up in the ways of this world such as carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:36). The immediate context is concerning the tribulation period and the coming of our Lord to set up His kingdom. There is an application here for us as well because before the tribulation we shall be raptured and it is good for to pray this same prayer and to look for His coming at the rapture of the Church. We are to live holy lives while awaiting His coming and be praying that we do so and are watching for His coming.
As our Lord went to the Mount of Olives to pray just before His suffering, He told His disciples to pray so that they will not enter temptation, knowing that they all would forsake Him and flee (Luke 22:40). Our Lord who is God, prayed before His coming suffering and told His disciples to do the same, how much more should we be in pray during these last days of turmoil and stress.
In I Thessalonians we read that we are to “pray without ceasing” which is followed by “In everything give thanks” (5:17-18). As the children of God, we can speak to Him at any time. I and many others, will ask Him to provide a parking place while driving downtown, or for wisdom when going into an important meeting or just to thank Him for a beautiful day. We are always in an attitude of prayer and ready to talk to our heavenly Father at any time. Again, in Ephesians we read, “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (6:18). The giving of thanks is often attached to the teaching on prayer. As we read in Philippians, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (4:6-7). Rather than be anxious, we are to pray and the Lord will give us peace.
We are to be praying for all men, especially those in authority, that they might be saved. Rather than cursing others or trying to get revenge, we are to be praying for their salvation, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” (I Timothy 2:1-2). Notice what contrast this is to the natural bent of mankind. It also stands in stark contrast to the religion of Islam that calls upon its people to kill the infidels. “In fact, there are at least 109 identifiable war verses in the Koran. One out of every 55 verses in the Koran is a war verse. War verses are scattered throughout Mohammed’s chapters like blood splatter at a crime scene, (Secrets of the Koran by Don Richardson). Muslims do not pray for all men but seek to behead them, Islam is not a religion of peace.
In the book of James, we have a wonderful discourse on the subject of prayer. We are told that if there is anyone who is suffering, let them pray, if anyone is sick, they are to call upon the elders to pray for them and the prayer of faith, will save the sick and sins will be forgiven. We are to confess our trespasses to one another and to pray for another, for effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. The example is then given of Elijah who prayed that it would not rain and it did not, then prayed that it would rain and it did. This same power in pray is available to us as well (James 5:13-18).
In I John we have a serious warning concerning prayer. First, we are to pray for those who are sinning a sin that does not lead to death. But we are not to pray for someone who is sinning a sin that leads to death. All unrighteousness is sin and there is sin that does not lead to death. The question here is, what is sin that leads to death? First, we understand that a believer cannot lose their salvation, once saved, always saved. Second, a believer can sin and if they continue in sin, then the Lord can and will bring them home prematurely. As believers, we pray for one another that we do not sin, but when one sins such a grievous sin that discredits the Church and the gospel, then we do not pray for them, as it is time for them to depart this earth and go home to be with the Lord. We see in I Corinthians where we read, “For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.” ( 11:30) the word sleep, means they physically died in Christ. In that text, the sin that took them home, was of eating the Lord’s supper in an unworthy manner. As we pray concerning these matters, it is well that we seek the Lord’s will and then pray accordingly.
We do face something of a dilemma in our prayer life. In our theology proper, we understand that the Lord is all knowing or omniscience. He already knows what we are going to pray for and He already knows what the outcome is going to be. This raises 2 questions; 1st is it possible for something to happen other than what the Lord already knows what will happen? 2nd Since that is true why bother to pray, when we cannot change the outcome. We must understand that the purpose of prayer is not the change the mind or the outcome of the divine purpose of the Lord our God. The purpose of prayer is to communicate with our benevolent heavenly Father while being confident that He will carry out His will in our lives and whatever that will is, it will be for our good “And we know that all things work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28). The bottom line is that we pray because our Lord told us to and it is good for our relationship to our heavenly Father, through the Son and with the power of the Holy Spirit. In summary, let us pray often, let us pray humbly, let us acknowledge the Lord our God in an attitude of worship, let us pray for one another, let us pray forgiving one another and pray for the lost that they may be saved because it is the will of our God and for our good.