One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation’” (Luke 11:1–4).
I’m so happy the disciples asked the question, “How should we pray?” Jesus’s response to them is probably the most powerful teaching on prayer in the entire Bible. This passage of instruction happens twice in the Gospels, here in Luke and earlier in Matthew 6:9–13. Jesus is laying out exactly how He talks to the Father. Bible scholars think that the Lord’s Prayer has been used since the mid-first century after Jesus’s resurrection but before the first Gospels were written down. It is a prayer we can truly build our lives around. I love using the Lord’s Prayer as a template for my own prayers to help guide me, especially when I feel stressed or scattered and need to clear my mind and just be present with God. I don’t do it every time I pray, but I do it often, and I do it very intentionally.
I begin by remembering God as “my Abba, my Father.” He’s the One who loves me, welcomes me, knows what I need, and has my best intentions at heart. Then I take a moment to praise His name by saying, “Holy is Your name, Lord.” To lift Him up puts my heart and my priorities in their proper place. I ask for His Spirit to fill my heart with His desires, that my words and actions would be aligned with His in my marriage, my family, and my relationships, as well as my city and the world around me. I pray that my will and my ambitions would be His for that day “around here as it is in heaven, Lord.” Then I simply ask Jesus to supply all my needs for today—from the big stuff, down to the little requests. I try to bring my all to Him, such as, “I’m pretty tired, Lord. Will You help my voice to be strong when I sing tonight?” Or “Lord, help me to be thoughtful and present with my wife and patient with my children. Help me to serve others before myself.” I then pray for forgiveness and grace and that I would extend that forgiveness to others in my life. Finally, I pray as Jesus does in Matthew’s Gospel for protection over my loved ones and against all evil and darkness that is attempting to steal our joy. Then I close my prayer by asserting that my life is dedicated to Him. It’s Jesus’s Kingdom that I live for, and it is His power at work in me that enables me to serve Him and others. It is His grace that saves me. Amen.
I’ve found that this formula has carried me through times when I’ve needed prayer the most. There is so much strength in Jesus’s prayer. It’s a cry for grace. It is an unwavering command to forgive. Even words such as “Thy Kingdom come” hold an eternal power so great that it would make all the nations in the world and their armies look small and weak. It’s a simple request for our basic needs, acknowledging that it is truly God who meets them for us. And then, in the moments I can’t find my own words to say, my spirit is lifted by reciting the prayer that came from the lips of my Savior. There is joy in embracing what His words teach us about how to live for His Kingdom. Sometimes it is the power of this very prayer that changes our hearts.
An excerpt from “On Our Knees” by Phil Wickham
