Prayer Revolution: A 14-Day DevotionalEgzanp

Jesus’ Prayer Expands Our Heart for God and His Mission

Jesus came to build a new world, and this calls for a new prayer. Not just any prayer will do. He trains His disciples in a prayer that contains the architecture and strategy to advance the kingdom. He gives them a prayer that will increase their capacity for God and expand their heart for others.

Jesus knows we need help to pray—we do not know what to ask for and we do not know how to ask. In order to impart His purposes and His passion for prayer, Christ provides an all-encompassing framework to guide our prayers. Praying the priorities of this prayer is the key to the growth and advance of the kingdom of God. It is the prayer of all prayers. We call it “The Lord’s Prayer.”

When the disciples approached Jesus and requested, “Lord, teach us to pray,” they had seen Jesus “praying in a certain place.” They realized that His peace with God and His power for mission flowed from a life of prayer. They were hungry to experience the same peace and power. They were eager to know the secret of effective prayer. Jesus responded to the disciples’ request by providing them—and us—with a comprehensive framework, a grid for prayer.

Prayers for Busy People

We have always been busy. Even Jesus was so busy He had to retreat to pray. Today’s world is not only busy, but it also lacks cohesion— fragmented and distracted as it is by digital media and technology. We are devoted to scientific progress but have no faith trajectory. We move at breakneck speed but have no purpose or destiny to chart the course. It is marvelous how the prayer of Jesus speaks to this very need for cohesive focus and purpose. Using the Lord’s Prayer as a framework for prayer is one way of incorporating structure into a busy and fragmented life.

Life can be overwhelming in its busyness and complexity. Unless we bring form and purpose to our prayers, an unstructured life will lead to scattered and harried prayers—the kind that lack power and don’t do much for starting or continuing a revolution. But, when we take the time to study and apply it to our daily lives—in particular breaking it down into seven specific parts, or what I call the “grid”—it helps to bring a dynamic form and compelling purpose to guide and shape our prayer lives.

Renee Reynolds, a prayer director for Geneva School in New York City, has been using the Lord’s Prayer as a framework for her prayers for years. She told me:

Using the seven-day prayer outline has fortified my prayer life with structure, dimension, and meaning—but most of all, it has brought a God-aligned focus and God-glorifying intent. I find the grid a simple tool that can be adapted to suit a diversity of people and personalities. Noting answered prayers fosters ongoing gratitude and reinvigorated prayer.

As you faithfully and thoughtfully pray “the grid,” your prayer life—indeed your whole life—will experience an order and purpose radically distinct from those surrounding you. Even more, as God empowers and answers your prayers, the light of His powerful grace will shine through you. Others will want to know the secret of hope within you.