How Jesus Taught Us to Pray

Prayer. This is something we teach our children. They watch us, we instruct them, we urge them to memorize prayers. Even Ella, age 2 at this writing, is learning to pray. She watches us and follows our example. From the simple "Thank You, Jesus, for our food" to the memorization of longer scriptures, we all pray. It is in our nature as humans to know we need help, we need to give thanks, we need to share our thoughts and concerns as we travel through life, so that even those who claim to not believe often lapse into prayer unintentionally. 

But what is prayer? Why do we pray? How should we pray?

It turns out that Jesus answers our questions...

“This, then, is how you should pray: 

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, 

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us today our daily bread. 

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." (Matthew 6:9-13)

Five sentences, concise but full of meaning.

Jesus begins with our relationship to God, inviting us to call Him Father. We are invited to intimacy with the Creator of the Universe; even His Name is Holy.  Because we can call Him Father, we know we can trust Him to love and protect us. We know we can tell Him anything, ask Him anything and we are assured of His tender heart towards us. He hears us, He knows us, He cares for us. We are invited to give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you. (1 Peter 5:7)

God is my Father, but He is also your Father. We are taught to pray our Father, not my Father or even the Father.  We are to worship Him in community. We are to recognize He is the God of all people, everywhere and to treat them as God's beloved children. We are sisters and brothers to all we meet. When we hurt them, manipulate them, mock them, or betray them, we are harming one of God's precious children.

Not only is God a loving Father, He is also Holy. He is the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. We cannot allow our intimacy with Him or our busy lives to cloud the fact that He must be revered as the awesome and only God. We pray His name would not only be Holy to us, but also we will have the courage to proclaim that His name is Holy to everyone we know.

 

It also means when we don't understand God's ways or His words, it us who are mistaken. He is righteous, not us. He will judge us, we do not dare to judge Him. His ways are always good, perfect, righteous and ultimately bigger than our ways.

 

We pray for His kingdom reign to begin on earth and His will be done in our world perfectly as it is in heaven.  Our country is a democratic republic with checks and balances because men are selfish, foolish and tend towards evil. This form of government works because it protects us from each other. In contrast, God's kingdom is flawless because God is good, wise, just, and merciful. His Law is righteous. While we wait for His reign, we strive to follow His will and encourage others to do so as well because following Him together leads to Shalom: unity, wholeness and peace. We need to pray for God's reign to begin on earth but also while we wait, we pray for His will to be done in ourselves.

 

In our modern society, it is easy to forget that we are not self sufficient. In Jesus' day, most people struggled for the basic necessities of life, like food, on a daily basis. Today in my neighborhood, I can enter a variety of stores and purchase prepared food to satisfy my hunger, or even a stray desire. I struggle to remember all of it demands the work of many people: store workers, cooks, butchers, truckers, and farmers, just to name a few of the obvious ones. But the source of all food is God. It does us well to ask and thank Him daily for providing all we need. It fosters humility, gratitude, and ultimately worship of our God who cares for us. Asking God for our needs, even though He knows exactly what we need before we ask Him (Matthew 6:8), cultivates intimacy with Him. 

Asking daily for our forgiveness reminds us that we sin daily. It reminds us of our frailty and need for a Savior. It humbles us and encourages us to forgive others daily. Because those around us sin daily too, and sometimes hurt us, manipulate us, mock us, or betray us. It should not surprise us. We must stand ready to forgive, with the help of our Father. We do not truly understand the grace and mercy God gives us if we refuse to give it to others. Unforgiveness and bitterness will burn our hearts and make us unable to love others and experience God's peace if we do not forgive others. And we can trust God will forgive us too. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. (Psalm 103:12)

We must be alert to temptation daily. God longs to give us the strength to withstand the trials of life. We ask for protection from evil in the world around us, but also the evil inside of us. Again, we should not be surprised by temptation and tests. We are to expect them and lean on God for wisdom and courage.

Jesus clarifies here what we can expect from the world and what we can expect from Him. He wants us to seek Him daily for provision and protection. He wants us to have mercy for each other. He wants us in relationship. He not only tells us to pray, but He is praying for us:

 

 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in Me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as You and I are one—as You are in Me, Father, and I am in You. And may they be in Us so that the world will believe You sent Me." (John 17:20-21)

Currently we live in exile, where God's will is not done and He is largely not acknowledged as king. We not only live in this evil kingdom, but our hearts are also evil. But He is greater and has a plan that will ultimately succeed and will bring us home into His perfect kingdom. 

 

We look forward to it and as we wait, Jesus invites us to talk to Him daily. This is prayer.