"Pray, then, in this manner: 'Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.'" Matthew 6:9-13
This prayer is frequently and erroneously referred to as "The Lord's Prayer." However, not once did Jesus pray this. In fact, He had no need to; He was perfect, without sin. The Lord's Prayer is found in John 17. The prayer found here is The Disciple's Prayer. Jesus was teaching His disciples how to pray—not what to pray. Notice that He did not tell them this was the prayer they were to habitually pray, but rather they were to pray "in this manner." We need to examine the structure Jesus provides for us, because this is how our prayers out to be patterned after. The structure of The Disciple's Prayer is:
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
We should begin our prayers by acknowledging that God is our Father in heaven and that we honour Him. This is an important step in humbling ourselves before Him and telling Him that He is our God and that we trust His Word and wisdom.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
We should let Him know that we understand that He is in control and in charge of all things, that His kingdom will continue, and that it is His will and not our own that we are to listen to and obey. His authority governs both Heaven and Earth.
At this point, we should acknowledge all that He has done for us, all the bountiful blessings He has provided for our good, all the trials He has blessed us with in order to learn what we need to learn, and every good thing in our lives.
Give us this day our daily bread.
We should then petition Him for our needs and the righteous desires of our hearts—not our whims or worldly desires. The righteous desires of our hearts will conform to His will. "Our daily bread" is not merely food, but all the daily necessities for our growth and salvation.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
We should lay before Him our sins and transgressions, asking forgiveness and for the strength to forgive those who have sinned against us. If we remember that we have something against a brother, or a brother has something against us, we need to rectify it. This is our opportunity for repentance, for our weaknesses, for our thoughtlessness, for our disobedience, for our sins of commission or omission.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
We should pray for His guidance in our walk and the power to overcome sin. We need to have self-mastery, or self-control, so as to conquer the adversary. Remember, Romans 6:11 tells us to "consider yourselves to be dead to sin." In other words, reckon it to be true.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
We should close by once again acknowledging that this is His kingdom and that He has all the power. The glory of what we do belongs to Him for all that He provides for us. We should close in the holy name of Christ Jesus our Saviour and Redeemer.