Introduction

We are currently going through a series titled "Read.Pray.Worship.Live," where we are looking at how each of these aspects is integral to the life of the believer and necessary to remain in proper fellowship with the Lord. In our first study, we began with a look at the Smaller Westminster Catechism, which informed us that the chief end of man is to glorify God. In our study, A Heart to Study God's Word, we found that one of the most important ways for us to glorify God is through a dedicated and systematic studying of the Scriptures, which is the means by which we will come to know who God is and how we are to properly worship Him. In the next segment of our study, we want to take a look at another means by which we can glorify God and grow in intimacy with Him; the topic for this study is prayer. In this particular study, we will set out to look at the reasons for prayer and a model of prayer as outlined by Jesus Christ on two separate occasions.

To begin this study, it would first be appropriate for us to define prayer and find out exactly what it is for the Christian. The American Heritage Dictionary defines prayer as the following: 1) a reverent petition made to God... or 2) an act of communication with God... such as devotion, confession, praise, or thanksgiving. If we look at the Holman Bible Dictionary, we see that prayer "involves the dialogue between God and people." If we were to combine these definitions, we would then be able to define prayer as a dialogue with God where we both communicate and make our petitions known to Him. This is the definition that we will be working with as we examine why and how we are to pray.

Why Do We Pray?

For a study on prayer, the first question is a very logical one: why should we pray? If we look at Scripture with the intent of finding an answer, we will soon discover a myriad of reasons as to why we are to pray. For the purpose of this particular study, we'll briefly examine eight reasons why we are to pray as outlined in Bill Bright's work How You Can Pray With Confidence, which I have briefly expounded upon.

1. We pray because God commands us to pray. If we look at the New Testament alone, we will find several commands of prayer. Pray continually (1 Thess. 5:17). Watch and pray (Luke 21:36). Pray with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6, Col. 4:2). Pray in the Spirit (1 Cor. 14:15). Always pray and not give up (Luke 18:1). Pray for those in authority (1 Tim. 2:2). Pray for boldness (Acts 4:29). And so many more...
2. We pray because of Jesus' example. If we were to closely examine the gospels, we would find that Jesus was very dedicated to prayer and spending time alone with His Father. We see Him several times in Scripture going off by Himself to pray (Luke 5:16 & Matt. 14:23) as well as praying for others (John 17). Jesus was dependent on His prayer life, so how much more should we pray and spend time with God!
3. We also pray because of the example of the disciples and others in Scripture. All throughout Scripture we find God's people praying to Him, especially with the disciples and early church. These are definite examples of how we should be spending our prayer time.
4. We pray so that we can have fellowship with God. He anxiously and patiently waits for us to come to Him in prayer. Proverbs tells us that "the prayer of the upright is His delight" (Proverbs 15:8), which is something that should be the motivation of every believer; we should desire for our prayers to be a delight to the Lord. We should desire to spend time with God so that we can please and delight Him.
5. We pray so that we can communicate with God. One thing that we have to realize as Christians is that we have a direct line of communication with God because of our position as His children. God has made Himself available to us at all times. It is through prayer that we can talk and make our petitions known to God; He then responds to us through His written Word, the Holy Bible, as we study it.
6. We also pray so that we can receive spiritual nurture & nourishment (Psalm 119:50). Just like eating, we too have to spend time in prayer with the Lord to keep our spirits healthy and alive. Just like if we don't eat, our bodies will become weak and frail; if we do not pray, our spirit will become weak and we then lose the strength to live as a witness for Christ.
7. Another reason we pray is to obtain results. If we are to use Scripture as our standard and example, we will find that prayer does indeed change things. Therefore, we can expect for those who pray to have things change around them according to the will of God. The prayers of faithful Spirit-filled believers have proven this to be true many times, and it still holds true today. For a small sampling of this, see: Genesis 25:21; Judges 6:39-40; 1 Kings 18:37-38; Acts 12:5, 16; 16:25-31.
8. The final reason we are to pray is because it allows for us to become a fruitful witness for Christ. Scripturally, we are to talk to God about men first, and then talk to men about God. Witnessing and evangelism should be outward displays of our prayer life. See Acts 10 for an example of how Peter was in prayer and was instructed towards an evangelism encounter.

Now, this was only a quick summary, but its purpose is to show you just how important the command to pray is. There is a scriptural command from God for us to pray, and we see that there are many spiritual benefits to prayer. By no means is this an exhaustive list, but it does lay for us the foundation by which we can prove that we do indeed need to pray, as believers.

When Should We Pray?

Since we now have an understanding of why we are to pray, the next question should seem rather obvious. When should we pray? In some regards, this seems like a silly question; but in all actuality, it is one that is worth asking and answering. Seriously, most Christians do not really understand when they are to pray, so let's look at the Scripture to find our answer.

The first passage that I want us to look at is Mark 1:35 which reads, "Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." If we are to use this as our basis, the first time we are to pray is early in the morning, before we get our day started. Why should prayer be our primary agenda in the morning? Well, quite honestly, it shouldn't be any other way. The reason that prayer should be the first thing we do in the morning is so that we can seek the Lord and be in tune with the Holy Spirit; we want for Him to be able to guide and direct us throughout our entire day. We also see other examples in the Bible where God's people started their morning in prayer to Him. A few examples would include: Psalm 5:3; 88:13; 119:147. Just as it was true for these believers, the same thing needs to be true of us; we need to seek the Lord and fellowship with Him first thing in the morning so that we are in the right frame of mind and walking in the Spirit before tackling the events of the day.

The next time we are instructed to pray is in the evenings. Our model for this is found in Matthew 14:23 and it reads, "And when He [Jesus] had sent the multitude away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there." Another instance can even be found in Mark 6:46-47. We first see that Jesus started His day by praying before the sunrise, and now we see Him ending His day with prayer as well. We can even find times where Jesus was up all night praying, which we can find in Luke 6:12 and while in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46). There are also numerous instances outside of the life and ministry of Jesus where we see God's people praying at night, including: Psalm 119:148 and Acts 16:25. Why is that? The reason Jesus and other believers ended their day in prayer is because they wanted to end it the same way it began: in communication with the Father. Again, why? They knew that if they ended the day with prayer, thoughts of the Father would be the last thing on their mind before resting for the evening. By praying in the evening, it also allows your spirit to continue in communication and worship while you are asleep, so that the Lord is the first thing on your mind in the morning when you wake up, thus starting the process all over again for a new day.

It doesn't just end with morning & evening prayer! We also find other times of prayer in Scripture. Let's look at two passages in particular beginning with Luke 5:16. This passage reads, "So He Himself [Jesus] often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed." The second passage is 1 Thessalonians 5:17 which reads, "pray without ceasing." A few more passages would include: Psalm 55:17; Daniel 6:10; Acts 3:1; 10:30. It should be evident after reading these passages that prayer is something that we should always be doing, whether it be morning, noon, or night. We see here that Jesus prayed often, as well as others who closely followed the Lord. Now, Luke 5:16 does not tell us when Jesus prayed, but it does tell us that He got by Himself often so that He could pray without interruption. Then we see Paul commanding us to pray without ceasing in 1 Thess 5:17. If combine these two passages together and begin to build a doctrinal understanding of prayer, we see that prayer is something that should be an intricate part of our lives, even throughout the rigors of everyday life. God desires for us to be so intimate with Him that we should be seeking Him for every decision that we make, which would require for us to communicate with Him throughout the day. There should be moments throughout our day when we are offering up a quick prayer for others, giving the Lord thanks & praise, and just sharing what is on our minds. Prayer should be second nature to us.

So, what answer would we give if asked when should we pray? Our answer should be: 1) intimate prayer and fellowship with the Father early in the morning when we first arise, 2) constant communication with Him throughout the day, and 3) meeting with Him again in the evening for another time of intimate prayer and fellowship. By doing that, we are insuring that we have a healthy prayer life and spending adequate time with the Lord so that we might come to know Him better and bring glory to His name.

How Do We Pray?

Now that we know why and when we pray, we now reach the greatest question we will face during this study on the subject. The question is this: how do we pray? To answer this question, we will again turn to Jesus Christ and follow His example. In two instances recorded in Scripture, Jesus taught His disciples a model to be used for prayer. The first instance is recorded in Matthew 6 during Jesus' Galilean ministry while teaching His Sermon on the Mount, and the second is found in Luke 11 during His Judean and Perean ministry after being approached by His disciples about how to properly pray. This model is important for us to have a proper understanding of how to pray. Why is it so important? If Jesus felt the need to discuss and teach it more than once with His disciples, then it is something worth taking the time to examine and study. To really get a full understanding of Jesus' prayer model, we will use the passage found in Matthew 6:9-13, but we will also look at the verses both preceding & following this passage, as well as paralleling it with the passage in Luke 11:2-4.

We will begin with Matthew 6:5. It is here that Jesus starts off by warning His followers to not be like the hypocrites when they are praying. Jesus tells them how these men love to stand outside the synagogues and on the street corners praying to God, but He is completely against this. Jesus' words to them were to go their room and shut the door so that they could be alone with God, instead of out in the open for everyone to see. Why is this? Jesus tells us in Matt 6:6; those who pray out in the open receive their reward from man by being seen, but the ones who pray in private are the ones who are openly rewarded by the Lord for their persistence in prayer. The point that Jesus is trying to drive home is that prayer is not intended to be for show or public display, but is something that is of a private matter, thus it should be both taken seriously and done out of the sight/hearing of others. Prayer is meant to be a time where we pour out our hearts before the Lord; and, something so serious and intimate should be done in a private and intimate setting where no one else is around to hear the prayer. Another aspect worth pointing out regarding Matt 6:6 is that Jesus is not giving a specific location for prayer (as He Himself did not have an inner room in which to go and prayer), but instead is speaking of the single-mindedness that we are to have when we enter into prayer, blocking out everything that would distract from our prayers to God. In this regard, Jesus always practiced what He preached since He was one to constantly get away to pray both in the mornings and evenings, as we saw in the passages above.

The next thing that Jesus points out before getting into the prayer model is that we are to not use vain repetitions in our prayers (Matt 6:7). He reminded His listeners how the pagans constantly repeated their prayers and chants with the hope that their gods would hear and answer their petitions. This was all part of a ritualistic nature and they hoped by their many words that they would be heard and be found acceptable in the sight of their false gods and idols. In contrast, this is nothing that Christians need to do with the one true God. When we pray, the Lord hears our prayers; therefore we do not need to use any sort of repetitions and constantly repeat ourselves. There is no good that will come from the Christian constantly repeating a set of empty words with the hopes that they will somehow be rewarded for the length of the prayer. We can also find many passages in Scripture that coincide with this line of thought and show how God is not pleased by our many words. Ecclesiastes 5:2 and Matthew 23:14 are two passages where we are instructed to be of few words, especially in our prayers. Along with that, there are many examples throughout the Scripture where we can find prayers that were no more than a few words, including: 1 Kings 18:36-37; 1 Chronicles 4:10; Luke 23:34, 42; and Acts 7:60, just to name a few.

In the following verse (Matt 6:8), we find Jesus declaring that God knows all about our needs before we even come to Him in prayer, which is another reason altogether why we do not need to use these vain repetitions. It is interesting to note that Jesus has this as His last statement of caution before giving the model prayer to His followers, and there is much that we can take away from this verse as well. One of the most important things that we can take away from this verse, concerning our prayers, is that prayer is not ultimately about us telling God what we need. Martin Luther had a very enlightening comment concerning prayer when he said, "By our praying... we are instructing ourselves more than we are him." That is to say, through prayer, we are preparing ourselves to walk in the ways of the Lord more than we are attempting to tell God what to do on our behalf. Along with that, we understand, from what we have already outlined above, that God wants to hear from us in prayer, so our prayer times become a time of sharing with God, even though He already knows all of the things we have need of. Therefore, prayer becomes more of a help to us, than it is having God act on our behalf, which sums up what Luther had stated.

There is more that we can understand from Matthew 6:8, and one those things is our motive for prayer. Just like we saw in verses 5-6, Jesus is instructing His followers to have pure motives for prayer. It is only when we have pure motives that we can be confident that God will hear and answer our requests. It is for this reason that we need not use vain repetitions, since we know that God already knows what we have need of before asking. We simply need to make our requests known to God (John 14:13) and we can rest easy knowing that He has heard us, without having to endlessly repeat ourselves.

It is after these warnings that Jesus then gives His model for how we should pray. For this study, we will look at each verse of the prayer individually. By doing this, we will afford ourselves the opportunity to look closely at what Jesus is teaching us in each portion of the prayer model. One thing to note before moving forward is that this prayer is not meant to be recited as is, but is meant to be used as a model and skeleton outline for coming to the Lord in prayer.

The Disciple's Prayer

Before moving forward with our look at the individual lines of this prayer model, it is first important to examine the prayer as a whole unit. A thorough look at the prayer will reveal many aspects that will help the model to make more sense to us. In this section, we will look at the many ways in which this prayer can be broken down.

In its most proper and basic sense, this prayer gives us two sections: 1) glorifying God, and 2) man's need. In verses 9-10, we find three petitions that are all aimed at glorifying the Lord and magnifying His holy name. The first petition is towards God's name, the second towards His kingdom, and third to His will. The same breakdown is given for man's need; in verses 11-13 of the prayer model we find the three petitions for man's need. The first petition for man's need is for daily bread, second for forgiveness, and finally for protection from temptation. This is the primary fashion in which this prayer is to be broken down, but we can still find innumerable ways in which to outline this passage.

To quote John MacArthur, here are a few more ways in which this passage can be outlined:

Another indication of the prayer's divine comprehensiveness is seen in the seemingly endless schemes by which it can be outlined. When outlined from the perspective of our relationship to God, we see: Our Father showing the father/child relationship; hallowed be Thy name, the deity/worshiper; Thy kingdom come, the sovereign/subject; Thy will be done, the master/servant; give us this day our daily bread, the benefactor/beneficiary; forgive us our debts, the Savior/sinner; and do not lead us into temptation, the guide/pilgrim.

From the perspective of the attitude and spirit of prayer, Our reflects unselfishness; Father reflects family devotion; hallowed be Thy name, reverence; Thy kingdom come, loyalty; Thy will be done, submission; give us this day our daily bread, dependence; forgive us our debts, penitence; do not lead us into temptation, humility; Thine is the kingdom, triumph; and the glory, exultation; and forever, hope.

In similar ways the prayer can be outlined to show (1) the balance of God's glory and our need; (2) the threefold purpose of prayer: to hallow God's name, bring in His kingdom, and do His will; and (3) the approach of present (give us this day our daily bread), past (forgive us our debts), and future (do not lead us into temptation).

—MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The

As you can clearly see, this is a very dynamic prayer, even with its use of so few words. The most beautiful thing about this prayer model is that it can be infinitely expanded when we pray with our own words and bring in our own petitions and praises. Even more, from start to finish, this prayer is singularly focused on God and aspects of who He is. The only place where man is included in the prayer is when we are asking for God to bring glory to His name by providing for us. Indeed, what an awesome prayer model that brings perfect glory to the Father.

Let us now begin our look at the individual pieces of the prayer.

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name

Jesus begins the prayer with "Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name" in Matthew 6:9. What is so significant about this portion of the prayer? By opening the prayer with "Our Father," Jesus is indicating the relationship that His followers have with God; we are His children and He is our Father. It is imperative to note that in one regard, all of mankind are the children of God as a result of being His creation; we can find this depicted in passages such as Malachi 2:10 and Acts 17:28. This is only in a very general sense though, as not everyone is called a child of God and able to refer to Him as Father. We find in Scripture that we are only able to call Him Father if we have entered into the family and kingdom through His Son, Jesus Christ. If we have not repented and put our faith in Jesus Christ, then we are not God's children. Jesus tells those who have not believed in Him in John 8:44 that, "You are of your father devil," as opposed to John 1:12 where those who believe become "children of God." When we recognize that God is our heavenly Father, we are able to come to our time of prayer with a different mindset, speaking to Him with greater love and reverence, as opposed to if He were simply some far and distant God. As a means of illustration, imagine that you had to come before the president of the United States in need of something; if you were just an average citizen, you wouldn't have much hope that he would answer your request or even take you seriously. Now, what if you knew that the president was your father; you would approach him a lot differently, knowing that you have relationship with him and that he would be more apt to hear & answer your petition based upon your proximity to one another. This is a similar situation with God; because we are His children, we are able to approach His throne confident in our relationship, instead of cowering in fear of rejection. As a result, prayer becomes less of a burden and more of an intimate and enjoyable time spent with the Lord.

Now that we know and understand that relationally we are God's children, that does not give us license to have a free-for-all with our prayers or talk to Him however we choose. God is still God, even though He is our Father. This is why this next part of the prayer is very important for us to have an understanding of. What does hallowed mean? The American Heritage Dictionary defines hallowed as "to make or set apart as holy." And when we turn to the Greek, we see that it is the word hagiazō (ἁγιάζω, Strong's #G37), which generally means "to sanctify," and is only translated as "hallowed" when used in this prayer model (in both Matthew and Luke). Outside of these two instances, this word relates to the process or action of sanctifying, or the sanctifying/consecrating actions of God Himself upon an object. And since we know that God is holy already, hagiazō refers to the idea of maintaining a holy reverence towards God and all that He is. It is of importance to note that this comes directly after stating that God is our Father; this presents itself as a measure of keeping prayer as a serious matter and not forgetting the holiness of God and the honor that He expects. That is to say, when we go into prayer, we are to open up giving all honor and reverence to Him. We should give honor and glory to the Lord and magnify His name as the first portion of our prayer. We should spend time thanking Him for who He is and worship Him as God. And, as far as God's name is concerned, it is more than just a title, it is all that He is; His name represents His character, plan, and will. Knowing this, a passage that echoes these sentiments is Psalm 100:4 which reads, "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name." This is exactly what Jesus was teaching us to do; He wanted us to enter into our time of prayer recognizing who God truly is and giving Him praise, therefore centering the prayer on God, instead of on ourselves.

The thing that I love about this portion of the prayer is that it can last for an unlimited amount of time. It can range anywhere from ten to fifteen minutes or last for hours. It all depends on where our spirit is and the amount of praise that we have in us. It is important to note that this is not an area of prayer that we should rush through; instead, we should take our time honoring the Lord and lifting up His name because this is the part where we become assured that our hearts and minds are fixed on Him alone.

Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done

The next portion of the prayer found in Matthew 6:10 reads, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven." When we normally think of prayer, we think about asking for ourselves and about our own needs and wants, but it is here that we are taught contrary to that popular belief. Instead, Jesus is teaching us that we are to be praying for God's will to be done on earth. We are not merely praying our wants and needs for ourselves or others, but rather praying for the will of God to take precedence in every situation.

In order for us to properly pray this part of the prayer, we need to make sure that we understand each and every line, so we will do just that. First and foremost, we need to figure out what "Your kingdom come" means. In order to do that, let us first go to the Greek. for starters, we will see that the word "kingdom" comes from the Greek basileia (βασιλεία, Strong's #G932) and it is the only word used to translate "kingdom" in biblical Greek. A close look at this word will show us that kingdom does not refer to a geographical territory, as most of us might think of when we think of great kingdoms like the Roman or Greek empires; conversely, this word refers to the dominion of God or His sovereignty. The word "come" is an even more interesting term as it comes from erchomai (ἔρχομαι, Strong's #G2064), which indicates a sudden or instant coming when taking the verb tense into account. Putting those words together, we see the idea that Jesus is referring to His Second Coming. He is teaching us to pray for a quick and sudden return. This is not the notion that is popular in today's social and emergent gospels where humans are the active ingredient by which God's kingdom "comes" to earth by doing works, but, instead, is referring to the literal physical return of the King (Jesus Christ) to establish His perfect kingdom here on earth.

As a brief aside, this prayer for the Lord to come quickly is a future prayer, as we are praying for something that is to come in the future (but yet are prepared for every waking moment). But, there is also a sense in which we are to pray for God's kingdom to come in a present state. The way in which this happens is when a new believer enters into the kingdom through the saving work of salvation. His kingdom comes because His will is being accomplished that all might be saved and come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), and this new believer is then also able to carry out the living out of God's will in his/her own life. It is in this manner that His kingdom presently comes, as it is an inward kingdom that resides inside of believers. With this in mind, part of our prayer for God's kingdom to come should include an evangelistic approach as we pray for the salvation of those who have yet to enter into the kingdom.

"Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven" is the next piece to this prayer, and it is one that directly coincides with our praying for the Lord's swift return and for the salvation of others. A part of praying for God to quickly return and setup His kingdom involves the outward working and completion of His will, which is what we are praying for here. We are praying and entreating God to have His will be done in our own lives, the lives of others, and in this world in general. In doing this, we are assuring ourselves that our personal plans and will are lined up with those of the Lord, instead of being self-seeking. Regardless of the need and want we have, our petitions to God should always line up in accordance with His will, and we can do that by praying for His will to be done in our lives and the lives of others.

The sovereignty of God comes into the picture in this part of the prayer. We understand clearly from Scripture that God is sovereign over all things and is in absolute control down to the most minute detail. It is evident that what He has set forth by His word will be accomplished, as shown in Isaiah 55:11. But there is an area where God allows human volition to come into play, as we are given the ability to make our own decisions concerning matters. An example of this would be salvation. As we already pointed out in 2 Peter 3:9, God's will is for all to be saved; but, God gives us the choice whether we will accept or reject salvation. The same is true of allowing God's will to be done in our lives, we decide whether His will is done or not. It is our choice whether or not we choose to walk in obedience to His Word and will through the process of renewing our minds (Romans 12:1-2) and becoming slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:16-18). We can choose to share the gospel or we can choose to live in sin; in these instances, and many others, the choice is ours to make and God lets us make it. The fact of the matter is that if we are praying for His will to be done in our lives, then we are going to do those things that line up with Scripture.

What about the "on earth as it is in heaven" part, what does that mean? Simply put, the will and plan of God is and always has been perfectly executed in heaven. It is because of sin and the fallen state of humanity that the earth is no longer in alignment with His will. Therefore, we are praying that God's will would be done just as perfectly here on earth as it is in heaven, which includes praying for His swift return. In this, we are also praying for His perfect will to be done in our lives and so forth. Nevertheless, His ultimate plan is going to be accomplished, so it is in the best interest of the believer to have their life line up with it and walk in obedience. It is through this that His kingdom comes on a daily basis as we wait for His physical kingdom to come in all its glory.

Of the six petitions in this prayer, we have taken a look at the first three. It is of great importance that we realize everything up to this point has been pointed directly at God. So far we have: 1) sought & addressed Him as our Father and reverenced His holy name, 2) asked for His kingdom to come in order that His perfect rule might take place here on earth, and 3) asked for His will to be done perfectly in our lives and on this earth. Up to this point, we have not asked God for any of our personal needs, but have only sought to have His divine priorities take precedence in our lives and this world. How awesome is that?! It's not until the end of the prayer and the final three petitions that we even begin to start thinking about ourselves, but even with that, it's not as you would think!

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

The fourth petition that we find in Jesus' prayer model involves the implementation of divine provision into our lives. We can find this in Matthew 6:11 where it reads, "Give us this day our daily bread." This is the part of the prayer where we begin to ask God for our needs. Before we move ahead any further, one thing to notice here is that before we even begin asking for anything on our own behalf, we have already spent a great deal of time in prayer lifting up the name of the Lord and putting His priorities first, above our own. Remember, it is important to remember that God's agenda comes before ours, lest we forget the words found in Matthew 6:33 where we are told to seek first the kingdom of God. With that put into proper perspective, now it is time for us to ask God for the things that we need.

There are two things we need to look at when it comes to asking God for our needs. First, we need to recognize that there is a spiritual need, and, secondly, there are physical needs that need to be met. More than anything else, we need to know what God is saying to us, and we find this through His Word, which we should be feasting on daily. Matthew 4:4 tells us that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Even before we think about our physical needs, the first thing that needs to be asked for is the Word of God and asking for God to speak His truths to us as we study it. Without His Word, then everything else is worthless. We need our daily portion from His Word, which is why we ask for God to give us our daily spiritual bread first and foremost.

Again, having made sure that our priorities are straight, we can now begin to ask God for the physical needs that we have in this life, the needs that we have on a daily basis. A logical question would have to be, what are those needs? For many Christians today, they would think that their needs are a bigger car or house, more money, electronics, and so on. These are not needs, and definitely not the kind of needs that are being referred to in this prayer. The needs that are being spoken of are the bare necessities, which would include: food, shelter, clothing, and health.

Why are these basic needs so important? Let us put this in context, and the picture will become clearer. The need to ask God for a daily portion was a legitimate need in the time of Jesus, as people seriously had concern for the most basic of needs like food and how they were going to provide it. This is in contrast to our society where many of us live in abundance with well furnished houses, lots of clothes to wear, and plenty to eat. Let us not forget those in other parts of the world, and even in our own areas, who are in need of these basic life sustaining requirements. This is not merely a prayer that they need to pray, but it is one for the those that have as well. With this in mind, let us take a closer examination at this request for daily bread and how it sees itself out in our prayer.

The first thing we want to look at is the "daily bread" itself. This is the substance, not only the physical but the spiritual also; the substance includes all of those basic necessities that we just spoke of above. As believers, we are calling upon the God of the universe to come to our aid and supply our needs, and He sincerely concerns Himself with doing this. God wants to supply our needs. And not only is this a request for our daily bread, but it is also an affirmation of thanksgiving towards God for providing our daily bread. It is the affirmation that makes this prayer applicable to those who have, as well as those who have not.

Not only do we look at the gift of daily bread, but we also need to look at the gift giver, the source of the daily bread. As we have already stated, it is God who supplies our needs, and that is all the more reason we are to offer up praise to Him. This is important to remember, as we live in a very materialistic society that prides itself on what man can do for himself. We do not want to allow ourselves to get into the mindset that we are the ones providing for our own daily bread, but we are to remember that God is the one that supplies all of our needs (Philippians 4:19). Even when we think we do it on our own, it is still God who provides; let us remain faithful to give Him thanks for being the provider of all.

Next, we look at our supplication and petition to the Lord with the word "give." Indeed, we are telling God what to do, but this is by no means in a conceited manner. Instead, as believers and His children, we are simply repeating His promises back to Him. If we look ahead to Matthew 6:25-34, we see how God has taken care of nature. How much more important are we to Him and how much more will He take care of us?! God promised to supply the need of the believer (Matthew 6:33), so we are just asking Him to do what He has promised. This is similar to what we find in Psalm 119 where the Psalmist constantly makes many commands of God, but they are only a repeating of the promises of God. How do we know His promises? By knowing and reading His Word, which is why we ask for our spiritual daily bread.

The final point to look at is the timing. We are instructed to ask the Lord for our daily bread. This indicates many things. First, it indicates the frequency by which we are to pray. It is impossible to ask God for daily bread, unless you come to Him daily in prayer. We outlined this earlier in our study when we spoke about how often Jesus prayed, as well as others from Scripture. Secondly, we are to realize that this truly is a daily provision; we are asking for God to supply everything that we need from day-to-day. Much like the children of Israel when they were in the wilderness, God supplied enough manna and quail for them to have each day; when they tried to store more than they needed, it rotted. That is to say, let us not be concerned with our provision and needs for tomorrow, but let us walk in the graces of God using the daily provision that He provides us with. Let us not forget verses like Matthew 6:34 or James 4:13-15 that encourage us to only be concerned with today. That does not mean that we are not to plan, but merely that we are to trust God to provide everything that we need for today without giving care to how He will provide for the next day. When we take our provision for today, without concern for tomorrow, we are showing contentment and trusting in the faithfulness of God (1 Timothy 6:6).

So, let us ask God for our daily bread, the bread that we need for today and today alone. We need to ask, trusting that He will provide for both our physical needs and our spiritual needs. As believers, we need not worry if He will, as it is something He has promised to us. And by praying in this manner, we are aided in keeping things in perspective, as we continue to pray in a manner that lines up with the will of God, without becoming selfish an seeking our own gain through prayer as if God were some kind of genie.

Forgive Us... As We Forgive

Up to this point, we are two-thirds of the way through this prayer model, and we have yet to make any mention of evil or sin. I personally find that to be pretty amazing considering the emphasis that many pastors and teachers place on the importance of confessing one's sins during prayer; you would think with that it would be one of the first things that the believer does when he/she enters a time of prayer. According to Jesus' prayer model, this is not the case, as it, instead, comes in the latter portion of the prayer. It is with that in the forefront of our minds that we reach our fifth petition overall, and second where we ask God to do something on our behalf. We see here that we are asking the Lord to forgive us, as Matthew 6:12 reads, "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." Let's first deal with the "forgive us our debts" portion before moving to the other half of this verse.

Looking at Matthew's account of this model, it would be easy for us to assume that sin is not even mentioned in this prayer, as the passage refers to debts. But looking at this verse within context, using the parallel account from Luke, and viewing the Greek text we find that this is indeed sin that is being spoken of, as it is one of five New Testament Greek terms for sin. In this particular instance, the word used is opheilēma (ὀφείλημα, Strong's #G3783) and represents the idea of a debt being owed, as we can easily view our sins being a debt owed to God "because it demands expiation, and thus payment by way of punishment" (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words). With knowledge that this book was written primarily for Jews (with its overarching emphasis of Jesus being the Messiah), it is perfectly acceptable for us to assume this, as Jews were very familiar with the concept of their sins being seen as a debt unto God. We have further evidence for debts referring to sins in the following verses if we skip ahead to Matthew 6:14-15 where we see the word transgressions joined together with forgiveness, which is an extension of this verse by way of explanation. Transgressions are another synonym for sin and it is the Greek word paraptōma (παράπτωμα, Strong's #G3900). Finally, we receive our firmest support for this in Luke's parallel account where he uses hamartia (ἁμαρτία, Strong's #G266), the most common word for sin, as opposed to debts.

Now that we know that Jesus is referring to sin, it is evident that we are being instructed to ask the Lord to forgive us of our sins. What exactly does asking for forgiveness entail? The primary thing we need to look at is the issue of sin itself; sin is what God hates and it is the very thing that keeps us from being in fellowship with Him. It is clear from Scripture that we have all sinned (Romans 3:23) and the just penalty for our sin is death (Romans 6:23a). It was through the work of Jesus Christ that we are able to be made righteous in the eyes of God, receive salvation, and be forgiven of our sins. It is a result of this work that we are even able to call God Father and pray this prayer to Him.

Even as believers who have been freed from the bondage of sin, we are still going to have sin in our lives. These sins do not have a bearing on our eternal salvation, as all of our sins were forgiven on the cross (past, present, and future) and nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39); but these sins do keep us out of fellowship with the Lord. There are many examples in Scripture we can cite that show us how fellowship with the Lord is broken, including: Psalm 66:18, Isaiah 59:1-2, and Zechariah 7:13, to name just a few. Being out of fellowship is not what the Lord desires, and the only way for us to remain in fellowship and walking in the light (1 John 1:7) is through the forgiveness of sins.

Asking for forgiveness logically implies that we are confessing our sins to God. Without confession, there is no forgiveness. Confession of sins is integral as we are agreeing with God about our sins and actively asking Him to forgive us for those sins. Confession is all throughout the Bible, in both testaments, as we can see examples in: 2 Samuel 12:13; Psalm 32:3-5; 51:1-4; Ezra 10:1; Job 33:27-28; Matthew 3:6; Luke 15:21-22; and Luke 18:13-14. Just as confession was important to the lives of these believers, it is important to our lives as well if we want to remain in right relationship with the Lord and walking in the power of His Holy Spirit. Let us remember the Word of God that tells us in 1 John 1:8-9 that He is faithful to forgive us our sins if we would only confess them.

Once we have confessed our sins to God, He is then able to forgive and cleanse us of them, remembering them no more. For most Christians, this is a very depressing time of prayer, especially if they have long spans of time between prayers and confession; they end up with long laundry lists of sins and wind up feeling guilty and condemned for their sins. This is not to be, and part of the reason why confession is one of the latter portions of this prayer. At this point in the prayer we are already very in tune with the Holy Spirit and having God's priorities put before our own, and with that we should feel a sense of relief as we confess. When done properly, confession should bring no guilt along with it, but only a sense of freedom and renewed vitality to walk in the Spirit (Romans 8:1, 33-34). Even with confession, we are given another opportunity to praise the Lord, as we can give Him thanks for the freedom from sin and daily cleansing that He offers to us.

One last thing to note before moving on to the second half of this verse is that in this prayer we are not asking for the forgiveness of sins that comes with receiving salvation. No, we are instead asking God to give us a daily cleansing type of forgiveness that is aimed at keeping us in proper fellowship with Him. An example of this would be the cleansing of our bodies. Once we have taken a bath (salvation), we do not need to bathe again when our hands or feet become dirty; we only need to wash that part of the body to be cleansed again. This is the same idea here; we do not need to be "saved" again, but only to be cleansed of the sins we have committed since salvation.

Now, in order for us to be completely cleansed and forgiven, we must not only confess our sins, but we have to remove any unforgiveness in our own hearts. If people have wronged or hurt us, we need to extend the same measure of grace towards them that God has shown us. We cannot miss this part! If we fail to forgive others, then we are no longer walking in righteousness and in the same forgiveness that God has given to us, which is uncharacteristic of the believer. If we jump ahead to Matthew 6:14-15, we will see this very clearly. This passage tells us that if we forgive others then God will forgive us, but if we do not forgive others then God will not forgive us. That's staggering! So this is another area where we can ask the Helper aka the Holy Spirit to help us. We can ask Him to resurface the names of anyone that we need to extend forgiveness to. When He brings those names to our remembrance, we can forgive them in our spirit, but we should also go to these same people and let them know we have forgiven them (and ask for forgiveness from them as well) so that they are aware of it, when necessary. Because we have received mercy and forgiveness from God, as His children, we should be quick to do the same of others.

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

We have now reached the sixth and final petition in this model prayer, and it is also the final petition that we make on our own behalf. Having received our daily bread and been forgiven of our sins, we are nearing the close of our prayer. This is the section of the prayer where we are literally asking God to not lead us into situations where we will be enticed to commit sin. That's what Matthew 6:13 is all about, "And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from evil."

When compared with other areas of Scripture, particularly James 1, this passage can appear to be contradictory and difficult to comprehend. In this prayer we are asking for God to not lead us into temptation, but we find in James 1:13 that God does not tempt anyone. If that is the case, why are we then praying for God to not do something that He would never do to begin with? Then again, we can look at the beginning of the epistle and see that we are to consider it a joy when we encounter various trials because they produce a stronger faith within us (James 1:2-3). So, how do they reconcile and why is this part of the prayer even important?

There is a very easy answer as to how these two seemingly contradictory passages are able to be in harmony with one another. As the believer looks intently at the holiness of God and His command for perfection, the very thought of sin is a very scary proposition; therefore, the believer does not want any part to do with sin whatsoever, nor do they want to have to suffer the consequences that come along with sin. With this in mind, this prayer is effectively asking for God to help us escape the very chances of falling into sin. In other words, why face the temptation of falling into sin when you can avoid it altogether? This is the heart of what this prayer is getting at.

As we all know, we are not going to be freed from the presence of sin until we get to heaven, so this prayer is a necessary one. On the one hand, we are asking God to keep us from those unnecessary situations where temptation may arise (i.e. being at the wrong place at the wrong time), but we are able to walk according to words of James when those situations do arise, which we know will eventually happen in this life. When temptations do come, we are not immediately asking God to deliver us, but to have the strength to endure the temptation without falling into sin. In these types of situations, God will live up to His end of the bargain if we would just pray to Him; but in order for us to stand, we have to follow Ephesians 6:10 which tells us to "be strong in the Lord and the power of His might." We have to be strong in our spirit and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit in order to be delivered from these temptations.

In this prayer, we are also asking for the Lord to deliver us from evil. This is a command that we are asking of God, and He is more than willing to oblige us, but it does require obedience on our part. In order for God to deliver us from evil and give us protection from sin, we have to be willing to submit ourselves to God. How do we do that? Two ways: 1) resistance, and 2) submitting to the Word of God. First, we have to resist the devil, which we are told in James 4:7; if we are able to resist Him through the power of the Holy Spirit, then we are told that he will flee from us. Secondly, we have to be obedient to the Word of God and give it reign in our lives. If we remember verses like Psalm 119:11, we quickly see the value of submitting to God's Word, as it aids in the prevention of sin.

Ultimately, it is here that we are checking ourselves to make sure that, by the Holy Spirit, we have on each piece of our spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:13-18) and are ready to walk the Christian walk. If we are missing any one piece of our armor, we allow an open door for the enemy to attack us; so we need to take the time in prayer to make sure that we are fully covered when we entreat God's protection into our lives for the day. By doing this, we guarantee that God will get the victory in our lives and that the enemy will remain defeated. Why? Because we will have our armor on and be ready if and when temptations do come our way, guarded so that we do not commit sin.

Yours Is the Kingdom

At this point, we are now done with our prayer (when paralleled with Luke 11). In Matthew though, there is a latter portion to Matt 6:13 that includes a doxology. This text is not found in the earliest manuscripts, but since it is in the Bible as a part of this prayer, we will go ahead and address it as such, as it does provide a climactic conclusion to this time of prayer.

With this doxology (an ascription of praise to God), we are essentially finishing our prayer the same way we started it, with praise. We begin in praise, and we will end in praise declaring the greatness of God. By doing this, we are thanking God for His rule in our lives and in His kingdom, and praising Him for the power that He has over all creation. We are then declaring that we are going to glorify Him today with our lives. In doing this, we come full circle with our prayer, and we have prayed according to the model that Jesus has given us. This way, we are now in a perfect position to walk in His power and fellowship with Him all day long.

Conclusion

Today, we have basically taken a crash course in the study of prayer. We looked at the why, when, and how of prayer; and it is my prayer that it has been a blessing to you. Just remember that praying according to Jesus' model includes 6 key elements: 1) reverencing God's holy name, 2) asking for His kingdom to come through His Second Coming and the salvation of souls, 3) praying for His will to be done in us and others, 4) asking and thanking God for our daily bread, 5) seeking forgiveness of sin, and 6) asking for protection from potential sin. If you can remember those six elements of prayer, you will radically intensify the quality of your prayer life for the better.

This teaching is a transferable concept, meaning that it can very easily be taught to another person, which is what true discipleship is all about. By sincerely implementing these principles and model into your prayer life, you will master it and then be ready to share it with others. This is all a part of fulfilling the Great Commission and making disciples all throughout the world for Christ.

I pray that this study has blessed you abundantly and that it draws you into a closer and more intimate relationship with our Father in heaven. God bless!