The Lord’s (and Disciple’s) Prayer

Historically, Matthew 6:9-13 has been my go-to prayer outline. Jesus never meant for this to be a stand-alone prayer. Check out my recent podcast on the subject.

“Our Father in Heaven”

Acknowledge Him as your loving, good, and validating Father. He is the God of your affirmation and validation (Romans 8:15a-16)

“Hallowed be Your Name”

Acknowledge His character and nature as set apart from the rest of His creation (Revelation 4:1-5:14) and give Him the place that He deserves. He is immanent (within us) but let us never forget He is transcendent (above us).

“Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”

Here, I surrender my life to Jesus and pray that my loved ones do the same. I have been praying this over my family for decades.

“Give us today our daily bread”

Until a short time ago, there was no other known occurrence of the Greek word for “daily” in all Greek literature. Early church father, Origen, thought the word was fabricated by Matthew, but not long ago a papyrus fragment with this word was discovered. It was a woman’s daily shopping list!

Simply put, this petition means: “Give me what I need for this coming day.”

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors”

Ask God to help you forgive others as He has so graciously forgiven you. If you didn’t get a chance last week, make sure you read last week’s Jesus’ Prayer Pro Tip #4, from our E-Mail Equipping Blast, as well as the phenomenal podcast interview with forgiveness expert Bill Hebel.

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”

Life can be tough. You will be tested by God (Psalm 17:3, 26:2), our fallen world (1 Corinthians 10:13), or by your sinful nature (James 1:13-15). Through it all, we must ask God to deliver our hearts from evil to fully trust in Him (Proverbs 3:5-6).

“For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen”

Here, I ask God to make me a Kingdom-minded man. My kingdoms must crumble, being replaced with His. Tear down my kingdoms and replace them with Yours!