Call to Prayer 5

Luke 11:1 “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” (GNT)

Jesus’s more complete response to their request is given by Matthew:

Matthew 6:9-13 “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’” (NIV)

Our Lord Jesus was a praying Savior....He prayed at all times and in all situations.

He prayed after long days of constant labor:

Following one long day of dawn to dusk ministry, Jesus grabbed a little bit of sleep and: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (Mk. 1:35 NIV).

He prayed before making big decisions:

The Bible says that on the night before choosing His first disciples: “It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God” (Lk. 6:12 NASB).

He prayed before powerful experiences with God:

The Bible says that at his baptism: “...as he was praying” the Spirit of God descended on Him like a dove (Lk. 3:21-22).

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Now, as the disciples witnessed His extraordinary prayer life firsthand, they finally said, “Lord, teach US to pray.”

Jesus replied by giving them The Lord’s Prayer, which we just read.

He didn’t give us this prayer to mindlessly recite without understanding it’s contents...It’s to be prayed with understanding and sincerely from our heart.

So let’s break it down—The Lord’s prayer covers five key areas: PURPOSE. PRAISE. PROVISION. PARDON. And PROTECTION.

The prayer begins with:

Praise

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” (NIV)

Now, I want you to notice how Jesus immediately places prayer in a child/father context.

When we pray, we’re not approaching some distant, hard to reach supernatural being, but God as our Father.

This immediately makes prayer relational, personal, loving, special, and intimate—a father WANTS to take care of his children, and that’s how we’re to view God when we pray!

Jesus said in another place, “And if you hard-hearted, sinful men know how to give good gifts to your children, won’t your Father in heaven even more certainly give good gifts to those who ask him for them?” (Matt 7:11 LB)

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The second half of the verse is the PRAISE part:

“Hallowed be your name.”

“Hallowed” is a praise word. It means holy, special, sacred, set apart from all other names.

We sing the song, “There is none like you, no one else can touch my heart like you do,” and that’s true.

Hallowed means “There is none like you.”

There is no other God, none other worthy of our worship and praise.

You, God, stand alone in all the universe as our Father God!”

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Now, why begin prayer with praise?

Because praise is the doorway into God’s Presence!

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name” (Ps. 100:4 NKJV).

So the first part of the Lord’s prayer invites the Presence of God into our prayer time thru PRAISE.

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The next part of the Lord’s prayer deals with:

II. Purpose

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (vs.10).

Notice that the first two parts of the Lord’s prayer are about God—focused Godward.

And in this second part, Jesus is telling us to make our ultimate purpose in life the advancement of the Kingdom of God!

“Your kingdom come (not mine), Your will be done (not mine).”

No matter what we do vocationally, career wise, to make a living, pay the bills, or to fulfill our ambitions, we should ultimately be about advancing His kingdom.

Witnessing to others, spreading the Word, loving others in His name, doing good works in His name, serving as lights in the world!

ILLUS: In-N-Out Burger

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Then the next 3 parts are horizontal, and have to do with our own needs being met to His glory...The next thing Jesus said pray for is:

III. Provision

“Give us today our daily bread” (vs 11).

In the original language it can read, “Give us day by day our daily bread.”

Jesus is teaching an attitude of daily dependence on God.

This is the same lesson God tried to teach His people in the wilderness with the manna.

God told Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day’” (Ex. 16:4 NIV).

We read that there wasn’t enough for the next day, and they couldn’t eat yesterday’s manna because it had a 24 shelf life before going bad.

In the wilderness, Israel learned to trust God “day by day” for their provision, just like Jesus teaches in the Lord’s prayer.

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Jesus continually reassures us in His teachings of God’s willingness to provide for our daily needs:

“So don’t worry at all about having enough food and clothing...But your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well that you need them, 33 and he will give them to you if you give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to.34 “So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time” (Matt. 6:31-32 LB).

So every day we depend on Him: “Give me TODAY, Lord, my daily bread.”

Give me the MONEY I need to pay my bills, the STRENGTH to weather the storms, the WORD I need from your Holy Bible to build my faith, the JOY I need to rejoice my heart...

GIVE ME TODAY, LORD, MY DAILY BREAD.

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So we have Praise, Provision, and the next part of the Lord’s prayer is:

III. Pardon

“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (vs. 12).

This part of the Lord’s prayer guarantees we keep a clear conscience both vertically and horizontally—Right with Him, and right with others!

This is the way Paul the Apostle lived his own life: “So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man” (Acts 24:16 NIV).

LISTEN: This is SO important because a clear conscience and spiritual victory go hand in hand!

“Timothy, my son...Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked” (1 Tim.1:18-19 NLT).

The third part of Jesus’ prayer will keep us from ever getting more than 24 hours away from God!

If I DAILY pray for forgiveness and forgive others as well, I keep a clear, clean conscience before the Lord!

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And finally, the fourth part of the Lord’s prayer is:

IV. Protection

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”—vs. 13

In the last verse we asked forgiveness for sins committed...

In this verse, Jesus teaches us to pray for protection from falling into new sin.

He’s not saying that God leads us into temptation to sin, for James says:

“When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;” (1:13 NIV)

This verse is about knowing yourself—your weaknesses, the snares that you know make you stumble—and how to lean daily on God for protection from those situations you can’t handle.

If you think you can’t fall, remember the verse, “Don’t be naive and self-confident...You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else” (1 Cor. 10:12 The Message).

So we’re to pray that God protects us from situations that would weaken us.

ILLUS: Think of a mother that takes her young children grocery shopping with her and comes to the candy aisle.

She knows that taking her children down that aisle will only tempt them, and lead to whining and begging for the candy.

So to avoid the hassle, she wisely takes another route.

In this way the mother spares her children a trial.

Praying, “Lead us not into temptation,” is like praying, “God, don’t take me down the candy aisle today.”

PRAISE, PROVISION, PARDON, PROTECTION!

That, says Jesus, is what a good prayer time looks like!

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