Prayer

Prayer is communication with God. This is one of the most powerful Spiritual tools given to us by God. We all know how important and powerful communication is between human beings. What we have a tendency to ignore or neglect is communication with God. God desires and encourages His people to talk with Him. There are many aspects to prayer, so we will cover some of them here. As with all of the Saints of God, I want to encourage you to take prayer seriously. So many areas of depression, frustration, grief, worry, and sin could be resolved by a proper, daily, and righteous prayer life.

Prayer is so much more than just asking God for things. Our Lord gave us instructions on how to pray and yet, many Christians do not follow His guidance on proper prayer. It is our hope that this small study on prayer will be encouraging and enlightening. With a little daily discipline and understanding from the Word of God, Christians can become people of prayer, and much more effective for the spiritual work for which God has called us.

Old Testament Model

New Testament Model

(Daniel 6:10 NKJ)

10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

(Matthew 6:5-13 NKJ)

5 "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 "Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

(Luke 11:1-4 NKJ)

1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." 2 So He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one."

New Testament Model

The Lord Jesus gives His people instruction on how to pray in two different places in the Gospels. These are in two completely different contexts. In the first context, Jesus is preaching to people in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). In the second context, Jesus finishes praying Himself and the disciples ask Him to teach them to pray. In both cases, Jesus instructs them with the exact same model prayer. This tells us that the way we pray to God matters and there is a proper way to communicate with God. We need to recognize that Jesus is not telling us to repeat these exact words, but pray according to these various areas of our life. Both of these texts are shown below and following these two texts, we will examine each aspect of the model prayer and discuss how we can effectively pray according to the instructions from the Lord Jesus.

Daniel is a wonderful example from the Old Testament, showing us how to be a faithful person of prayer. Daniel’s custom was to pray three times daily, opening his windows toward the east. Daniel believed strongly in the return of the Lord for His people and he prayed toward the east in anticipation of the prophecies declaring that the Lord would come from that direction. Daniel also prayed even in times when it wasn’t legal to pray. He put his life on the line to be faithful to the Almighty God. Daniel demonstrated amazing discipline and courage in prayer and God used Daniel to accomplish some amazing things in his life but God also used him to show amazing future events to God’s people. Some of the things in the book of Daniel are still prophecies we are waiting for God to fulfill. What might God do through our lives, if we faithfully pray?

Here are the various parts of the Lord’s Model Prayer, with some useful information, to help focus our prayer on each aspect Jesus mentions. Remember, this is not a chant or saying we are to repeat over and over, it is a model for proper and appropriate prayer. We should not think to ourselves that God is ok with just any informal words we want to communicate to Him. We should hear the instruction of our Lord and through rigorous discipline, conform our praying to the model He gave us. The Lord Jesus is the Eternal Son of God, our Creator (John 1), so He knows what is best for us!

  • Our Father in Heaven

    • The first thing to understand is God is our Father. This demonstrates that we are in a familial relationship with God. We are God’s children through Faith in Christ. Our prayer should be similar in tone to the way we speak to our earthly Father or Grandfather. Proper prayer with God would be serious, truthful, respectful, loving, and with appropriate reverence and fear.

      • (Romans 8:14-15 NKJ) 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."

    • God is in Heaven. He is far above us and He knows what is best for us. Prayer is a recognition that we need God and we would be nothing without Him.

      • (Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJ) 8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

  • Hallowed be Your Name

    • Prayer should include praise and worship toward God. This is an often overlooked aspect when people pray publicly. Many prayers just launch into a series of requests and skip right over the praise and adoration that God is due. We need to remember to give our Heavenly Father, prayerful praise.

      • (Psalm 9:1-2 NKJ) 1 <To the Chief Musician. To the tune of "Death of the Son." A Psalm of David.> I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. 2 I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

    • God should be honored and revered. Our prayers need to be filled with respectful and humble exaltation for God. He is worthy of our worship. This should include a proper posture of humility, either kneeling, bowing, or full prostration before God in our prayers. Many times the form of our posture is demonstrating the attitude of our hearts. When we pray in very casual positions, we may be demonstrating that our hearts are not in a place of worship but a place of pride. Many saints in the Bible have demonstrated how to pray, either on their faces or on their knees. Even our Lord Jesus would kneel and pray to His Father in Heaven! Additionally, we need to get alone with our Father in Heaven and spend genuine and meaningful time with Him. If we desire to have a strong relationship with God, we must spend time in prayer.

      • (1Kings 8:53-54 NKJ) 53 "For You separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be Your inheritance, as You spoke by Your servant Moses, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD." 54 And so it was, when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the LORD, that he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.

      • (Daniel 6:10 NKJ) 10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

      • (Matthew 6:6 NKJ) 6 "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

      • (Matthew 26:36-39 NKJ) 36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there." 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38 Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." 39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."

  • Your Kingdom Come

    • The Prophets, our Lord Jesus, and the Apostles have all written a fair amount on the Kingdom to come. This is the period where the Lord Jesus Himself will come down to this earth and rule and reign as the King of the Earth for 1,000 years, on the reestablished throne of King David in Jerusalem. It is often called the millennial kingdom. All Christians should be looking for and longing for the days of this Kingdom of Righteousness to come on this earth. The Lord Jesus will spend 1,000 restoring the earth back to the way it was when He created it. During these 1,000 years, Satan will be bound in the abyss, a spiritual prison made just for holding angelic beings. After the millennium ends, Satan will be released for a short time, and he will deceive again. Ultimately, he will be cast in the lake of fire and brimstone we call Hell. According to the final two chapters of Ezekiel, the Lord will give Israel all of the land that has been promised to her, during the millennium.

    • In another way, asking for the Kingdom to come, is to acknowledge that the world and the people in the world, sit now in a fallen state and the only cure is the salvation and restoration that the Lord offers through His blood. We should not allegorize all references to the coming Kingdom but rather, recognize that someone needs to enter this Kingdom through Faith in Christ. We are in an intermediate state now, where the Kingdom can come on people spiritually, but all of the physical aspects of the Lord’s coming Kingdom will have to wait until He returns. So asking the Lord to save souls, therefore adding more people to the Kingdom, fits nicely in this section of the model prayer. A true Christian should always be praying for God to save those He has allowed us to share Christ with.

    • The Kingdom to come is an exciting time where the Church will be in new, glorified, immortal bodies but still serving the Lord. We will be assisting the Lord in His mission to bring the Earth back into a Garden of Eden like state. The Lord has instructed us to pray about the coming Kingdom with joy and excitement about the end the Lord has in store for the planet He created and for His people. At the end of the 1,000 years, both Death and Hades will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and there will be no more death! Hallelujah and Amen!

      • (Acts 3:18-21 NKJ) 18 "But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19 "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 "and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 "whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

      • (Matthew 8:11 NKJ) 11 "And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

      • (Isaiah 11:1-9 NKJ) 1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. 3 His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; 4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist. 6 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.

  • Your Will Be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven

  • Give Us Day by Day Our Daily Bread

  • Forgive Us Our Sins, as We Forgive Those Who Sin Against Us

  • Do Not Lead Us Into Temptation

  • Deliver Us From the Evil One