Pray in This Way (Part One)

“In this manner, therefore, pray:

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 forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.”
(Matthew 6:9–13)


In the parallel passage to this one, in Luke 11, Jesus introduces this prayer in response to the disciples’ request: “Lord, teach us to pray.” If the twelve apostles, who walked with Christ and heard Him pray for three years straight, needed Him to teach them to pray, how much more so do we. God, teach us to pray. And if we are listening for the answer, we will find it right here in His answer to them.

So when you pray, pray to our Father in heaven. First He is our Father. When you pray, it is certainly all right to pray in first person singular (with I’s and me’s and my’s and mine’s)—there are prayers like that throughout the Scriptures, especially in the Psalms. But we should always remember that even when we are praying alone, we are not praying alone. When we pray in our homes or by ourselves, we should keep it in mind that we are praying with (and often for) the whole church. A goodly portion of what we are praying for ought to be the same things all the rest of the church is praying for (e.g., God’s honor, His will, His kingdom, the spread of the gospel, and so forth). And certainly we should pray for others as much as we do for ourselves: for our spouses and children, our extended family, our church family, other churches, churches in other lands, those in authority, etc.

But even everything in my prayers that may seem personal to me (my wife, my children, my sins, etc.) has an effect on the rest of the church and the kingdom of God. For example, your children, for whom you are praying, will also have children, who will also have children, and your descendents, all twenty-five kabillion of them, will have you to thank for your faithful, fervent, and effective prayers for your children. Your prayers, in other words, have an incomprehensible effect on the church—present and future—and the building of the kingdom of God on earth. And that is just one example of how you are praying with the church and for the church, not just for your little spot of Christendom.

“Dear heavenly Father, holy Father, we give thanks to You for including us in Your holy family, and we pray together with the whole world of Christians that Your kingdom will come and Your will will be done in this world as it is in heaven. We pray You would teach us to pray and that we would be faithful to pray, knowing our prayers have a profound effect on the kingdom of God, and we pray You would hear our prayers and grant our requests for the sake of Your own glory, for the good of Your people, and for the building up of Your kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”