How to Pray Using The Lord’s Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer

When you were younger, were you taught how to pray? I was raised in a non-Christian but religious home; my dear mom was religious, and she taught me to pray as a young child. The prayer was this, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” This is a morbid prayer for a kid.

But instinctively, when I became a Christian, I had a desire to pray, but I didn’t know how to pray. I was told to go to Matthew chapter 6 where the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord teach us to pray,” and Jesus gave us The Lord’s Prayer.

Before we go look at The Lord’s Prayer, I need to mention the requirements and restrictions about prayer that the Lord established.

Matthew 6:5-8

And when you pray you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. Have you ever thought that your prayers earned rewards from God? Why would they? Because Jesus links praying with faith and the writer of Hebrews states, that without faith it is impossible to please Him. Therefore, when you pray, you are pleasing God and giving the devil a headache.

Luke 18:1-8

And Jesus told them a parable that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward, he said to himself, ‘I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so she doesn’t beat me down.’ The Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to His elect (Christians) who cry to Him day and night? I tell you He will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find people praying?” Is that what this says? No, it doesn’t say that. He says, “Will He find faith on earth?” In this parable, Jesus Christ linked faith and prayer. Do you want to be blessed? I know you do, so pray.

Jesus continues in Matthew 6:6 – “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

And when you pray, don’t heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” Jesus gives several prohibitions against not praying correctly.

1. Don’t be a hypocrite – hypocrites want to be seen as spiritual by man
2. Don’t heap up words – in other words, private prayers can be long, but public prayers should be short but full of meaning
3. Do not speak to others in your prayers
4. Don’t have a picture of Christ in your mind when you are praying. Do we know what Jesus looked like? Paul says, “We know Him in the flesh no longer.” If you want to picture Christ while you are praying, use the description that John wrote in Revelation 1:16, “His Face was like the sun shining in full strength.” Otherwise, we break the second commandment which is You shall not make an image or likeness.

Then Jesus said, “Pray, then in this way:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy 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 lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”

This is a tremendous prayer for every Christian to pray, not mindlessly reciting this prayer but with a heartfelt and thoughtful prayer to God.

Because Satan and his demons absolutely hate it when we pray, our prayers are like nails on a chalkboard to him. You will find that when you set aside time to pray, suddenly your mind seems to wander.

You start, “Our Father in Heaven…” did I leave the refrigerator door open?

Or “Father, I come to you…” I must remember to send Susie a birthday card.

The men at the Mission who lived depraved and utterly sinful lives would tell me when they tried to pray, they would think of the most heinous sins that they committed, and they couldn’t believe how much their minds wandered when they tried to pray. I said, “What do you do when that happens?” They would say, “Often I just give up.” I said, “That is exactly what Satan wants you to do.” What do you think the great Christian leaders and theologians of years past did when they began to pray, and their minds wandered? I’m talking about people like Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, and others who are great men of prayer. Luther called it the “AUFECTUNG,” which in German means, the Relentless Bombardment of Satan. What these men did when their minds wandered, was go to the Lord’s Prayer and read it out loud, word for word, as a prayer to God and they would find that they could get back into the desire to pray.

Find Matthew 6:9-13 and look at the Lord’s Prayer.

Our Father Who Art in Heaven

This truth is part of the universal treasury of Christendom and the truth I’m talking about is that every genuine Christian has God as his Father. And whether you pray this prayer in private or in public, always add Our Father, demonstrating the unity of Christians both in the world today and in centuries past, that we are siblings in Christ, with one God, Our Father.

But in the Jewish mind, to call God Father was unholy, arrogant, and bold, because it was like treating God flippantly. In Italy, they recovered thousands of correspondences of Jewish men, rabbis, and families and they discovered that the Jews did not address God directly as Father until the tenth century.

The first Jewish Rabbi to call God Father was Jesus of Nazareth. This was a radical departure from tradition. What was even more radical is that Jesus instructed fishermen, tax-gatherers, prostitutes, and zealots to call God their Father.

How can we, sinners by nature, call a thrice holy God Father? Because through the death and resurrection of Christ and by faith in Him, we have been adopted into the Family of God. We are all brothers and sisters of Christ, with one Father.

Hallowed Be Thy Name

There is no word in the English language that describes this Greek word other than Hallowed. Other translations have tried to use Holy, but the Bible calls you and me holy! So, the word Holy doesn’t cut it, for God’s Name is Hallowed. It is so holy, that wherever it is, it makes that area holy! When Moses approached the burning bush, God spoke and said, “Take the sandals off your feet for the ground that you’re standing on is holy.” His presence makes the area holy, but His Name is Hallowed!

That’s why the Third Commandment is to protect God’s name, “You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain; the Lord will not hold the person guiltless who takes His Name in vain.” Every time a construction worker or waitress who burns her hand says His name as a swear word, it’s sin and disrespectful to God.

As Christians, we have to be incredibly careful not to use the name of God as an expression. When something happens and you say, “Oh God,” you have just taken His name in vain unless you have used it in prayer. Never use the name of Jesus or God the Father as an expression, the only time we should use His name is when we’re explaining the truth of the Bible, the Gospel or we are in prayer.

Thy Kingdom Come

Every time you pray this, you’re asking God to hasten the coming of His Kingdom. If Jesus answered that prayer and came tonight, would you be ready? Are you living in such a way that you want Jesus to come right now? Or do you love this world or the things of this world and hope that He would be delayed? If you pray, “Thy Kingdom Come” but don’t mean it, that is the vain repetition that Jesus is talking about. We should avoid this in prayer if we don’t mean it, or better yet, ask God to fill our hearts with love and a desire to be with Him!

Thy Will Be Done, On Earth as It Is in Heaven

It is written in the book of Hebrews, that Jesus said, “I have come to do thy will, O God, as it is written of Me, in the scroll of the book.” Jesus was obedient to His Father which included suffering and dying on a cross. Now, Jesus asked us to pray, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Although we have desires and choices to make in both big and little things, we should be saying, “Thy will be done.”

Some have written and still teach today that it is wrong to qualify your prayer requests with the words if it be Your will. They say to add this is an act of unbelief.  We are told to be bold and claim God’s promises but there is a line that we cannot cross between approaching God in boldness and approaching God with confidence.

Hebrews 4:16

Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, so that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. This is from the King James Version, KJV, but the English Standard Version rightly translates this, instead of boldly they translated ‘with confidence.’ Why do we have the confidence to approach God? Because Christ has paid the penalty for our sins and has transferred His righteousness to us, therefore we have the confidence of going to our Father because we have become His children.

To approach God boldly borders on arrogance and to demand or to claim something is beyond comprehension. We are creatures created by the Lord God omnipotent and we should approach Him with Awe, Respect, and Honor due His Hallowed Name. Try walking into the United States President’s Office and boldly demand something! How long do you think you would be there? Numbers 3:4 says, “There were two priests, Aaron’s sons, by the names of Nadab and Abihu, who went boldly before God and offered unauthorized fire.” They both died horribly by fire at the scene. They went boldly and paid the price.

When we come to God in prayer, please don’t demand anything. Keep this thought in your mind while you pray and are asking, “If it be Your will.” He is God. We could also say, “As you wish,” or “If You please.”

But for some to say that it demonstrates weak faith to approach God and say, “If it be Thy will” is a slander to Christ, who gave us this model of prayer, and furthermore, Christ did it Himself in the garden when he wanted to avoid going to the cross. He said, “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours be done.”

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

Obviously, this isn’t referring to just bread but to the whole of our physical needs. In Jesus’ time, bread was the main staple in the diet of the Jews. Interestingly, we have a saying about a person who brings home the paycheck: he/she is a… Breadwinner.

In 1953, the American involvement in the Korean War had ended and they were able to divide the country between North and South Korea at the 38th parallel. North Korea was communist and South Korea was free, but there were thousands of orphaned children in South Korea. Several Christian agencies left the United States and went there to establish buildings, food, clothing, and medicine to care for these children. But many of the children could not sleep at night and after a short investigation, they discovered that the children had an acute anxiety disorder, the fear of going hungry the next day. Although they were fed 3 good meals a day, as a result of the war, they were unable to sleep for fear they wouldn’t eat in the morning. One brilliant nurse got an idea. She took a slice of bread and put it in the hands of every child and told them not to eat it tonight but save it for the morning’s breakfast. That little slice of bread calmed the children’s anxiety and they slept. They noticed that many of the children squashed that little piece of bread and kept it close to them as they slept. You and I are fortunate to have an abundance of food. Do we stop before we eat and thank God for providing a meal?

Jesus said, “If you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things will be provided for you.” What are these things? It is food and clothing. Years ago, one of the men in the Rescue Mission program came to me and quoted this back to me but he added ‘shelter’. He said that Jesus said if we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, that food, clothing, and shelter will be provided for us. I said, “Let’s look again at what Jesus said. He didn’t say shelter. He promises food and clothing if we seek His kingdom.” The man looked puzzled and said, ‘Then if we have shelter, that’s an extra blessing that God has given to us.” I said, “You are right and you’re not far from the kingdom of God.” He looked puzzled again and said, “I’m not far?” I said, “When I hear you confess Christ as Lord and that you believe in your heart that God sent Jesus to die for your sins and on the third day He rose again, then I’ll know you’re in the kingdom of God. It was about three weeks later that he confessed his faith before all the men in the program.

Forgive Us Our Debts as We Forgive Our Debtors

The King James Version of the Bible has a poor translation of this. The English standard version states, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” This is a very important distinction because we don’t forgive at the same time we are forgiven, but in our hearts, we have already forgiven those who have sinned against us and those who will in the future sin against us, and God then forgives us our debts. How do I know this? Matthew 6:14 says 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. Now we know from a plethora of other verses that this isn’t talking about salvation. A person is saved when he/she confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and believes in his/her heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. So how does this apply to us? This applies to us here and now; we want God’s blessings. We want Him to answer our prayers, we want to grow strong in our faith, and that will stop if you harbor unforgiveness for somebody, especially when God has forgiven you of all your sins. This isn’t talking again about heaven or hell; it’s talking about your life being blessed by God because you’re obeying Him by forgiving those who have hurt you. By the way, that’s the most Christ-like act you can do… forgive someone who has hurt you.

And Lead Us Not into Temptation, but Deliver Us from Evil

At face value, this seems to suggest that God would directly tempt His children to sin. Fortunately, that goes against other clear passages of Scripture, such as James 3:13, that God tempts no one to sin.

God never lures His children into sin, but He does allow His children to go through times of testing, as Jesus did in the wilderness when He was tempted by Satan while simultaneously being tested by God. God permitted the devil to entice Jesus to sin, but God was and is never the agent of temptation.

It’s important to keep these two sayings together – lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. A better translation or understanding of this comes from the original language and should be translated as but deliver us from the evil one, referring to Satan himself.

Jesus is telling us to pray daily for protection. Don’t assume that because you’re a Christian you’re free from the powerful influence of Satan. Jesus told Peter, “Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation.” Our heavenly Father may allow testing to come our way, but never more than we can handle.

I Corinthians 10:13, – No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and He will not let you be tempted or tested beyond your ability, but with the test, He will provide a way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it. What a tremendous promise that God gives us.

I’ll close with this one last thought found in the book of Ephesians, chapter 6. Paul lays out for the believer the necessity of putting on the Armor of God. He instructs us to be strong in the Lord and not to rely on our own strength. Again, don’t assume you’re covered or protected; make every effort to don the protective gear that God provides.

After Paul writes about the last piece of armor, which is the Sword of the Spirit (being the Word of God), what does Paul instruct us to do? Praying at all times in the Holy Spirit, with all prayers and requests or supplications, to that end, keep alert! This is instruction is for the church on earth, called the church militant, because we are engaged in a life-and-death struggle over the souls of men and women against the Prince of Darkness, Satan. We are to put on armor to fight.

We are only strong by always praying in the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, pray, pray, and pray some more!

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