Prayer is the foundational habit of all the spiritual practices and the critical launching point for apprentices of Jesus who want to be with him, become like him, and do as he did.
When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray it’s important that we pay attention to these words. In them we find how he connected his own heart to God’s and how we should do the same in prayer.
Matthew 6:9-13
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
Our Father in heaven…
Jesus recognized his relationship to God. He was Father. Jesus was his Son. As a child of God, Jesus knew the relationship was intimate. One author says that the only person who can run into the king’s bedroom in the middle of the night, without fear of reprisal, and ask for a glass of water is the king’s own child. When we pray, we must be confident and assured that we are approaching our Father in heaven. He loves us and wants to hear from us. We are God’s kids. This isn’t an earned position. He’s adopted us by his loving choice. In prayer, we must understand from which relational position we approach the Father.
Hallowed be your name…
Jesus also knew the character and quality of the Father he prayed to. God is hallowed. He is set apart and holy. As a child of the King, Jesus knew that he had direct access to his Father, but he also knew that his Father was sovereign and that his indescribable power, mercy, and love permeated everything. God is worthy of our worship and adoration. As adopted children, we should honor him as such. When we pray, we recognize who God is and that he is capable of hearing and acting upon all that we offer to him through prayer.
Your Kingdom come, your will be done…
Jesus knew this as he prayed in the garden the night before he died. He prayed for God’s will to be done. He trusted the Father to know what is best. I heard recently that prayer is us asking God for the things we would have asked for if we knew what he knows. As our Father and hallowed King, in prayer we must recognize the primacy of God’s will. When you know where you stand with the Father you can learn to trust him in prayer. I want to align my will with his will.
Give us today our daily bread…
When we come to God from the position of sonship and understand Him as a holy God who knows what is good for his kids, we can ask him for the things we need for that day. Jesus tells us that God wants to give his children good gifts. Everything good for us God promises to give to us! We should come to God each day asking and trusting him for his good gifts for that day (notice he doesn’t say “weekly” or “yearly” bread and so we must trust and keep coming back to him day after day). Even in the garden when Jesus laid his request before the Father, he trusted that his Father knew what was truly needed.
Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors…
Those who have been forgiven much, love much. These were Jesus’s words to his dinner host. Recognition of God’s eternal love and costly forgiveness is the critical posture for his children. Jesus’s death on the cross paid the penalty for our sins once and for all. Confession of our ongoing sinful nature is imperative. It reminds us that we are still in the process of being sanctified by God’s Spirit. In turn, when we recognize both our forgiven and in-process position, our only response is to extend that grace to others.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.
At the start of Jesus’s ministry, he came face to face with Satan who tempted him to divert from his mission and obedience to God. Jesus knew, through prayer and fasting, that time and intimacy with the Father was his only defense against sin. That was Jesus’s practice in prayer and we should practice the same.
Jesus’s prayer in Matthew 6 has important structure and understanding within these sacred words. Explore these words. Mimic them and expand on them as you pray to the Father. Allow him to form you as you do so.
Praying with you and for you,
Nathan
Nathan Hinkle
Lead Pastor