The Lord's Prayer
“Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:1)
For the last several months, we’ve confessed the Apostle’s Creed as a church during our worship services. I’ve personally benefited from hearing the truth of the gospel wash over me week after week. My heart has been encouraged by hearing the voices of God’s people confess the ancient truths that the church has always confessed.
Starting this past Sunday, we’ve switched from the Apostle’s Creed to the Lord’s Prayer. We’ll come back to the Creed in time, but we want to give our church several months to soak in these rich resources, so they each have time to work their way into our hearts.
As we pray these words together on Sunday morning, my hope is that the words Jesus gave us actually starts to shape the way we pray in private. The Lord’s Prayer is often called “The Model Prayer”, because it’s meant to serve as a model or a pattern for how we should pray. Each petition serves as a category that we can use to fill our own prayers and requests. The Lord’s Prayer is the outline, and we fill in the bullet points.
Martin Luther was once asked by his barber to provide some teaching and instruction on daily prayer. He responded by writing a very helpful letter on the subject, which contained the following counsel:
“You should also know that I do not want you to recite all words in your prayer. That would make it nothing but idle chatter and prattle, read word for word out of a book as were the rosaries by the laity and the prayers of the priests and monks. Rather do I want your heart to be stirred and guided concerning the thoughts which ought to be comprehended in the Lord’s Prayer. These thoughts may be expressed, if your heart is rightly warmed and inclined toward prayer, in many different ways and with more words or fewer.”
Here’s a beautiful example of this from John Piper:
Trevin Wax gives us another good example of what this can look like:
Our Father in heaven
Everlasting Father of the fatherless,
Heaven is Your throne and the earth is Your footstool.
The heavens declare Your glory,
and the sky above proclaims Your handiwork.
O Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
may Your Name be praised and be great among the nations!
Let Your glory be over all the earth!
Let heaven and earth praise You,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
Your Kingdom come
May all the ends of the earth remember and turn to You,
and all the families of the nations worship before You.
For kingship belongs to You;
You rule over the nations.
You are the strength of Your people –
the saving refuge of Your anointed!
Oh, save Your people and bless Your heritage!
Be our Shepherd and carry us forever!
You are our King, O God!
You are the King of all the earth!
Your throne is forever and ever.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Make us to know Your ways, O Lord.
Teach us Your paths.
Teach us to do Your will!
Let your good Spirit lead us on level ground!
Not our will, but Yours be done!
Give us this day our daily bread.
You, our God, will supply every need of ours
according to Your riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Give us neither poverty nor riches;
feed us with the food that is needful for us,
lest we be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or lest we be poor and steal and profane the name of our God.
Satisfy us with righteousness.
Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.
We confess our iniquity; we are sorry for our sin.
Have mercy on us, O God.
Wash us thoroughly from our iniquity,
and cleanse us from our sin!
For Your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon our guilt for it is great.
Lead us not into temptation…but Deliver us from Evil
We do not ask that you take us out of the world,
but that you keep us from the evil one.
Restore us; let Your face shine, that we may be saved.
For the glory of Your name, deliver us and atone for our sins,
for Your name’s sake!
You are our steadfast love and our fortress,
our stronghold and our deliverer!
For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever and ever.
And don’t forget, on top of praying the Lord’s Prayer, you can also sing it!
So as a church, let’s start a new rhythm together of praying as our Lord taught us, saying:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever!
Amen!
“…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.” (Matthew 6:6)
Resources:
How to Use the Lord’s Model Prayer - Paul Carter (Article)
“The following explanations and sample prayers reflect my understanding of the 6 main petitions in the Lord’s Prayer and some sample expansions within each category. I pray you find it useful.”
A Simple Way to Pray Everyday - Nick Aufenkamp (Article)
“…the Lord’s Prayer is meant to have a total, shaping effect on our hearts, helping us to see and yearn for the very things that God himself desires — most centrally, to see and experience more of God himself in our hearts and lives.”
The Lord’s Prayer - Chris Kawa (Sermon)
This is Chris Kawa’s sermon on the Lord’s Prayer from Luke 11, preached at our sending church, River Oaks Community Church.