“Pray Like This...”

“Pray Like This...” –Jesus

January Newsletter

Chances are, many of you (hopefully everyone) are resolving to grow closer to God in 2010. Well, the first step to doing that is telling God himself. Every relationship thrives (or fails) on communication, so maybe we should take a moment to remind ourselves how Jesus wants us to pray.

The model prayer comes from Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. Rather than simply repeating those specific words over and over (we know that wasn’t his intent: Matthew 6.7), we should view the Lord’s Prayer as a guide. See how Jesus’ model prayer helps us address every area of our relationship with the Father:

Matthew 6:9–13 (NLT)

⁹ Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

Worship: Glorifying God is the primary reason we are put on earth.

¹⁰ May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

The advancement of God’s work: Notice how Jesus sees the benefits of the Kingdom as available to us right now, here on earth! Proper prayer has us asking (and expecting!) God’s perfect will to become a reality in this life.

Don’t miss how the first half of the prayer completely addresses God, His agenda, and our need to acknowledge Him first. After that, we then move on to addressing our needs.

¹¹ Give us today the food we need,

Physical Needs: Remembering that God already knows what we need (v. 8), the point of this prayer must be to remind us of how much we desperately need Him. Every earthly object, from paychecks to peanuts to purses and everything in between is supplied by God. Our duty in prayer is simply to remain mindful of that. And, we can’t forget that Jesus has us here praying for our daily needs: use need rather than greed to guide your requests (James 4.3).

¹² and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.

Salvation: Our greatest gift from God is our ticket to Heaven. We have it because we recognize we need it, and that recognition comes from true repentance. What is the greatest mark of true repentance? Perhaps it’s the ability to forgive others, knowing that God has already done that for you. Those who have experienced true forgiveness realize the joy it brings and, in turn, extend it to others.

¹³ And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

Spiritual Needs: the fight wages on long after forgiveness. This is a much better translation that those reading “don’t lead us into temptation;” God would never do that (James 1.3). It is better to pray, “Don’t let us give in to temptation” (Mark 14.38). When we do give in to temptations, it’s not because we have no alternative (1 Cor 10.13). So, it must stem from a lack of spiritual preparation.

Using Jesus as our guide (which is always the best idea J). Let’s remember to Pray His Way.

-bill