The Lord’s Prayer Was Never Meant to Be Just Recited—It Was Meant to Teach Us How to Pray

By Tim Howington

In the last article about prayer, we talked about the fellowship of secret prayer. The intimacy of time alone with our Father in the secret place of prayer may yield a closeness with Him that we long for. When I think of the goal of the Christian life, it has to be a personal relationship with God. Right? However you want to phrase it, we are longing to know Him in a real way.

I am convinced that this authentic walk with Christ will center on the living and active Word of God, which teaches us, rebukes us, corrects us, and trains us in the way to go. In the pages of God’s revelation, we find life and life to the full. The dependability of the wisdom of Scripture shows us again and again that it can be trusted and God can be trusted. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit revealed, and the instructions for knowing them are truly unbelievable.

I am equally convinced that our journey towards God is found in secret prayer. When I say secret prayer, I am not necessarily speaking of a state of heavenly bliss only for the super spiritual (or I would be excluded). But I speak of something I am learning about and have been learning about for the 40+ years of walking with God. A prayer life that is REAL. Real interaction with God in a place of my spirit that is only known by Him and me. That is the real secret place. Not the couch in my reception area.

If you think about it, our claims about the Christian life are pretty fantastic. The creator God sees the fallenness of man and steps into history and lives a perfect, sinless life and dies a cruel, substitutionary life so that we could rightly relate to him. He is so committed to this that even the Angels rejoice when a sinner repents. All of heaven is engaged in a cosmic battle for the well-being of these created humans. All this energy, so that we can relate to our Maker, is pretty cool.

In our previous passage, we learn about what not to pray

“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. (Matthew 6:5-8, NASB)

Jesus says don’t be like the hypocrites who pray to be noticed.  And don’t replicate the Gentiles’ effort to babble their way into His presence. So, how should we pray then? What do we say? Even the disciples who watched everything He did, much like children who study their parents every move for clues about what to do, asked Him, “Would you teach us to pray as you do?”

In this passage, he lays out for us the key ingredients of secret prayer.  It is interesting to note that the most well-known prayer is the fodder for secret prayer. The prayer shared by so many congregations as a unifying force could and should be used privately in secret prayer.  Here it is: Jesus says,

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come, your 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 Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13)

Now that is simple and yet profound. It would be easy to turn it into a meaningless, rote, repetitive phrase to appease the call to prayer, yet have no real meaning. Makes you feel good but has no real substance. But if you break it down phrase by phrase, element by element, you find a hidden gem sitting in plain sight and a life-giving guide to secret prayer. The Lord’s prayer was never meant to be just recited—it was meant to teach us how to pray

Let me illustrate what types of things Jesus is encouraging us to pray for:

Our Father

Notice He didn’t say our sovereign or our king or our Lord or our creator or a host of other descriptors that would be an accurate way to address Him. But He describes God as our Father. For some of us, that word is a difficult word, as our earthly fathers were less than perfect. For others, this brings back fond memories of a man who loved us and did good by us. But the fact that we are to address God by the term positions us all as children who understand in our spirits that a good father-child relationship is a good thing, and it entices us to reach out to this being with arms of love and trust.

who is in heaven,

Our Father is in heaven. Think about this for a second. We are invited to commune with someone who resides in heaven. The greatest place there is. We are not confined to a local, inadequate deity to follow, but to the King of the universe, who is otherworldly.

hallowed be Your name.

The Greek word for hallowed is hagiazo, which is in the hagios family of words that we get the concept of holiness. Set apart from all that is unholy. Pure, consecrated, venerated, sacred, blameless. All synonyms for the one who says, “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Be set apart from that which is around you.  His name is Holy. His surroundings are holy. He is holy. We are approaching him as such. It seems that anyone who sees him falls in worship (see Isaiah in Isaiah 6, John in Revelation). Don’t tread too casually. God is not a buddy you haven’t seen in a while and want to have a beer with. He is high and lifted up. Treat him that way.

‘Your kingdom come,

He is a King, and he has a kingdom. When Jesus came, he spoke much of the kingdom that is coming. He compared it with leaven, mustard seeds, treasure in a field, tares in a field, seeds by the road, costly pearls, a dragnet. In this prayer, we should long to see God’s plan for an established kingdom come to fruition.

your will be done,

Next is the idea of desiring for God’s will to be done. One of the true tests of a believer is a resigning of one’s will to the will of the Father. Jesus models this for us in the garden. He asked the Father about a different route than the cross. In his humanity, he wishes for a different way to save mankind. Nevertheless, he desires the Father’s will to be done. This is a tough place to get to for most of us, but a necessary step in our sanctification process- bringing everything, including our will, under the lordship of Jesus.

on earth as it is in heaven.

This is an interesting phrase. One can only imagine how God’s will is done in heaven, especially with the rebellious angels cast out. God says, “Jump,” and all the angels say, “How high?” On earth, our temptation is always to question and look for the why so we can decide whether we want to do something. How many times do we sense that God wants us to do something and we resist?

‘Give us this day our daily bread.

Note it didn’t say monthly supply. It harkens us back to the days of manna where God provided for the Israelites daily (and twice on the sabbath). We live in a world where 70-80 percent are living paycheck to paycheck, and in some parts of the world they live hand to mouth. And this idea of daily bread is real. Nothing gets our attention like hunger, and somehow God wants us to be dependent on him even for this kind of sustenance.

‘And forgive us our debts,

What kind of debt is he talking about here? The Bible Knowledge Commentary says this when talking about this section, “Requests regarding spiritual needs, such as forgiveness, are included too. This implies that the petitioner has already forgiven those who had offended him. Sins (cf. Luke 11:4), as moral debts, reveal one’s shortcomings before God.” Lord, forgive us of our moral debt (sins). I don’t know about you, but I need and desire forgiveness. And that daily reminder that if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins is significant (1 John 1:9)

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

But our forgiveness is somehow connected to our willingness to forgive others.  This should scare the bejesus out of you. Verses 14 and 15, right after the prayer, give an interesting insight: “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions (Matthew 6:14-15). If you use this prayer template on a regular basis, this couplet of asking for forgiveness and granting forgiveness is a great one-two punch.

‘And do not lead us into temptation,

James makes it clear that God does not tempt us (Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. – James 1:13-14). So, what does this mean? I think this is a request for God to make clear a path that steers away from things that tempt us because we are very susceptible to sin.

but deliver us from evil.

Some translations include in this section not only a deliverance from evil but also the evil one. We have an adversary who desires to destroy us (John 10:10). Paul writes in Ephesians (6:10-17) that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against evil forces, and our response is to stand firm clothed with the armor of God (I will write a follow-up on the armor and address this in more detail). But we are not to be naïve and think that we don’t need protection.

[For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.]

And then the crescendo that may or may not be included in the original manuscript. If not in the original, I can see why the copyist added it. Something this magnificent needs a place to worship. And that’s what I see here. Lord, you are the King! Lord, you have all the power! And Lord, you deserve all the glory! The sentiment might not be in the canon of Scripture, but  the idea that the Father is worthy of worship resounds through the ages and the church from an unknown scribe who couldn’t control his pen.

The So-What

So, what do we do with this? The majesty of Jesus’ instruction on how to pray is worth emulating. I personally use the elements of the Lord’s prayer to guide my prayer time. Not the rote expression but the critical elements of how and what to pray. Try to use it for the next 30 days and see what you think.