We all know the Lord’s prayer. Most of us prayed it at school in assembly. We even prayed it in class every morning. It went like this:
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
We dutifully said the words without much thought to what they meant. We have a wonderful God in Heaven who gives us food and forgives us. Good stuff. Why did we recite this over and over? Because it’s in the Bible. So we kept praying it, taught our children and grandchildren to pray it, never giving it too much thought.
The version I’ve printed here is the version I grew up with. It is pretty close to the King James Version (KJV). It is from Matthew 6:9-13. In the New International Version (NIV) it looks like this:
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.
The last line seems to be missing. There’s a good reason for that. Let’s have a look at the beginning of verse 9:
This, then, is how you should pray:
Notice the word “how”? It doesn’t say “what”.
This was meant to be a blueprint for prayer, not an actual prayer itself. When they created the KJV, they added the last line to round it out as a prayer in and of itself and we’ve been praying it ever since, reciting it over and over until we’ve stopped looking at what it is telling us.
So let’s have a look at this template.
The first line “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name”. Acknowledge that God is in heaven and he is the holiest of holies. That’s a pretty big deal. It deserves more than a mindless recital.
Then we have “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.” We are proclaiming that God’s kingdom in heaven be brought to Earth. In heaven He is the ultimate ruler and we are asking that His will also be manifest on Earth. What is His will? Simply put, He wants to live in constant perfect fellowship with us.
“Give us today our daily bread.” We are not just asking God to feed us, we are asking Him to provide all of our daily needs, food, clothing shelter. Jesus expands on this one a little later in the chapter (v 25-27)”
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
Simply put, place your trust in Him and your needs will be met. In your prayer acknowledge that you trust Him to take care of you.
“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” This is one where most Christians come unstuck. We constantly ask for forgiveness, and we need to because we all sin. Even after we are forgiven, we do more stuff that requires more forgiveness. The bit most of us don’t think too much about is the second part of the sentence; “as we also have forgiven our debtors.” In a nutshell, we deserve as much forgiveness as we give to others. It doesn’t matter who they are or what they have done, you need to forgive them if you expect God’s forgiveness. Forgiving others is probably the hardest of all of the acts a Christian has to perform, but it is also one of he most crucial. This particular line is a book in itself. I’ll probably write more on this another time.
And lastly “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” We are asking for God’s protection from the things of this world that would lead us astray and from the devil who will throw many blocks in our path.
So it is not the thing that you should pray, but a list of the sort of things that you should include in your prayers. By all means pray this way, but try to put each line in your own words. You don’t have to be eloquent or overly wordy. God isn’t listening for the words coming out of your mouth, He wants to hear what is in your heart.
Talk to God, acknowledge His greatness and place your trust in Him.
He’s waiting for the real you.