After this manner therefore pray ye:
Our Father which 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 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, for ever.
Amen.
Matthew 6:9-13

The Lord's prayer was presented by Jesus as a model. He is telling us what kind of things we should pray, not the exact words that we should use. I am not saying that it is bad to repeat it. It is a great idea to repeat God's word at any time, but sometimes we need to look deeper.  So let's look at this prayer a little deeper and see what we can find.

Our Father which art in heaven: Jesus opens up the prayer with "Our Father." This is a personal term. You don't go around calling people father. If you did, people would think you are weird. We can come to God as His children. I think this also answers the question "Who do we pray to?".

Hallowed by thy name: Worship. I have heard it said that you worship God for who He is and praise Him for what He does. There are many names for God in the Bible: Jehovah, Abba, Lord. I particularly like the Hebrew names for God because the are descriptive of God’s different attributes and sound beautiful. Notice that this comes before everything else. This helps us to have the proper attitude and to remind us that God is set apart and should not be spoken about or treated vainly. I think that it also serves to humble us.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven: God's Will. In prayer and in life we should seek to do God's will. We should pray as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane in Luke, "not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22:42). I love that Jesus put asking for God’s will before asking for our own needs.

Give us this day our daily bread: Provision and Petition. We can trust the God will provide for us for God says, thru Paul, that he “shall supply all our needs according to his riches in glory.” (Philippians 4:19) I believe it’s not only our needs but the needs of those we pray for as well. This also makes me think of Deuteronomy 8:3. "man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live." Prayer is not just us speaking to God, but also Him speaking to us. We should allow time to quiet our thoughts and let Him speak to us.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors: Forgiveness. Though Christ has already died for our sins, it is still important for us to confess our sins to God and to to ask for forgiveness. This, I believe, helps to keep us in right relationship with the Lord. It is also important for us to forgive others. When asked how many times should we forgive our brother, Jesus responds “seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18: 21-22) Which is 490 times, in case you were wondering. In other words, we should forgive them as much as possible.  We will speak more about forgiving others in more detail in the next post.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: Protection. We cannot expect to withstand temptation by our own strength, we must lean on and trust in God for deliverance. I am reminded of 2 Corinthians 12:9 where God says “my grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever: Doxology. This is believed to have been written by someone other than Matthew. A doxology is another chance to praise and worship God.

Amen: According to Strong's at the end of a prayer this means "so it is, so be it, may it be fulfilled." It is a good way to end a prayer, for we desire all our prayers to come to pass.

Has the Lord’s Prayer affected you? How?

Note: Cross posted from A Christ Follower's Musings.
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And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are:
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues
and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you,
They have their reward.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret;
and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Matthew 6:5-6

Our prayers should not be used to draw attention to how holy or righteous we are. They are for God. Our prayers are our opportunity to present to God our requests, and our chance to develop intimacy.

Jesus often went off alone to pray:

“And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.” Matthew 14:23

“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” Mark 1:35

“And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.” Luke 5:16

Withdrawing from the world around us gives us a chance to be still. It gives us a chance to relax and commune with God.

“Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.'” Psalm 4:4

“Be still, and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10

These verses along with the the ones on giving I feel are also about seeking God’s approval and not man’s. We should never so anything that is self-seeking, or for man’s approval. Everything we so should be motivated by our desire to honor God. Not only that but we cannot live to please both Christ and man.

“For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10

Personally I find it easier to pray when I am off by myself, in a quiet place. People and sounds just tend to distract me. My most intimate prayers are usually when I am away from my places of comfort. In the spring/summer I love going out on our back deck to pray after everyone has gone to bed.

Where is your favorite place to pray?

Note: Cross posted from A Christ Follower's Musings.
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