Pray Like Jesus By Pastor Mark Driscollনমুনা

The Lord’s Prayer Part 2: Adoration, Worship, Provision, Confession, Intercession, Protection

The Lord’s Prayer is a guide for how we should pray, and there are 6 elements that Jesus models for us to mimic. 

“Our Father in Heaven”: Adoration

The Lord’s Prayer begins with the phrase Our Father. In these two simple terms are two towering truths. One, to be a Christian is to have God the Father lovingly adopt you to be His beloved child. Two, to be a Christian is to have a new spiritual church family with other brothers and sisters who also call on God together as our Father. As a Christian, you cannot be healthy unless you have both a relationship with God as Father and a church as a family.

“Hallowed Be Your Name. Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done, on Earth as It Is in Heaven”: Worship

Every day, the prayers we pray, words we speak, and decisions we make either invite the kingdom of God down into our lives or pull the kingdom of hell up into our lives. In any battle, secure and reliable communication channels are absolutely essential.

Worship includes music and singing songs, but it is much more than this. It is also about living lives that do God’s will. Worship is praying for the kingdom to come, and then living as a citizen of that kingdom out of love for King Jesus. Prayer is how we align ourselves with God’s will and position ourselves to help build God’s kingdom.

“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”: Provision

This portion of the prayer allows us to ask for practical things in life. You need food to eat, water to drink, and a place to live. For those things to get paid for, you also need a job and sufficient health to work it. God knows you have these needs, and when you ask Him, you are building your relationship. Your needs are not a burden. You are a blessing to your Father, just as children are a blessing to their parents. 

“Forgive Us Our Debts”: Confession

This section of the prayer reminds us of our sinful state in the light of God’s holiness, our debt to God. Both sins of omission—not doing what we should do—and sins of commission—doing things we shouldn’t do—are accruing debt to God.

But it also reminds us that total forgiveness of our entire debt—past, present, and future—is available through Jesus! “Forgive us our debts” is an incredible acknowledgment of God’s grace. God can and will forgive our entire spiritual debt. (And He has!) This reality welcomes us to pray for forgiveness with confidence and thanksgiving. 

“As We Also Have Forgiven Our Debtors”: Intercession

Forgiveness is a gift God gives to us, intending that we then share it with others. God’s forgiven people should be godly, forgiving people. This truth does not mean that we ignore, diminish, or even excuse their sin. It doesn’t mean we accept it or approve it. It doesn’t mean that we trust them, or that in the future we remain relationally close to them. Forgiveness takes one person, but reconciliation takes two, so all we can do is our part.

The Greek word most used for forgiveness quite literally means to let it go. In choosing to forgive, we are saying, “I wish God’s best for you. I give up my right to seek vengeance or justice. I leave your future in God’s hands.” The test of whether you have forgiven someone is blessing them. When someone acts like an enemy, and we forgive and bless them, we are treating them the way that God treated us when we were acting as His enemies. On the cross, where those who hated him had hung him to die, Jesus prayed in Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” 

“Lead Us Not into Temptation, but Deliver Us from Evil”: Protection

Sin is real. The devil and his demons are real. The world is filled with evil and fraught with temptation. God’s people cannot afford to be foolish or naïve.

While we can and should pray defensively for forgiveness when we sin, we should also pray offensively—in advance—before temptation comes and evil lurks. Of course, our Father never tempts us to sin, but in this portion of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus is saying that we should agree with God’s desire that we not bow to temptation and enter into evil.

Praying that God would protect us from temptation is just another extension of praying for God’s will to be done. It is saying, “God, I agree with you, and I don’t want to walk away from you in disobedience.”

Reflection:

1. How can you incorporate these 6 elements of the Lord’s Prayer into your own prayer life? 

2. Do you truly believe that you are forgiven? Is there anyone that you have not truly forgiven and need to get some time alone with God to work through a process whereby you can truly forgive them from the heart? If so, consider journaling about this process of forgiveness.

3. In what area(s) of your life do you need to be praying offensively or proactively against temptation and evil?