More Of GodSample

DAY THREE: How We Should Pray

Consider the Lord’s Prayer.

The first thing we should pray for is that God’s name will be hallowed throughout the world. We should pray that God will be famous. Praying “hallowed be your name” shows God’s priority for us when we pray. 

In my book The Lord’s Prayer I seek to make the case that God has His prayer list—and puts His list first. He puts three requests:

1. That we pray for His holy name to be honored
2. That we pray for His kingdom to come to us
3. That we pray for His will to be done as perfectly on earth as it is being carried out perfectly in heaven

That said, Jesus added a prayer list for each of us to pray:

1. “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11)
2. “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (v. 12)
3. “Lead us not into temptation” (v. 13)
4. “Deliver us from the evil one” (v. 13, NIV)

The fact that the Lord would put His prayer list first is a strong hint that we should honor Him and His will before we put our requests to Him. He wants us to pause and recognize that we are talking to God Almighty.