God Taught Us How To Pray

March 17, 2021

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. Give us day by day our daily bread. 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 evil.”

~Luke 11:2‭-‬4~

Our God is so good to us, He has provided us with so much! Food, shelter, family, security and ways to seek knowledge to grow closer to Him. When Jesus was teaching during His ministry on earth, He taught many things about love, joy, peace, and safety of abiding in God's presence. The glory of God is always around us we just need to call out for Him. The beautiful thing about God's gift to earth, being His Son, was the ability to pray to Him at any moment without a need for a middle man on earth; we go through Jesus; "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." (John 15:7)

Jesus was telling us that as believers in Him we shall receive what so ever we ask. Many of you of course are aware of this model prayer that the Lord gave His disciples who asked Him to, "teach them how to pray as John taught his disciples;" see Luke 11:1.

A lot of the times churches will pray it as a congregation to make declaration. When I first started praying as a new believer I would use this prayer whenever I felt confused or fumbled in my words. The Lord's prayer is filled with glory. First we see it starts out with claiming God's sovereignty; "Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name." This states very clearly to the heavenlies that we are speaking directly to the One true God who sits in heaven on His throne. His Name is power; "And in that day you will say: “Praise the Lord , call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted."

(Isaiah 12:4)

The second part declares that what so ever the Lord has spoken will come to pass. It is indeed us praying for His heaven to come to earth. "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." This again, shows who is truely in charge and who we are serving on this earth. We are His representatives, we are to bring kingdom to earth by the authority that we carry in Christ, we represent Him;

"Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." (Ephesians 2:19)

The Lord commanded us to go and make disciples, to cast out demons, to lay hands on the sick and they shall be healed in His Name and that we may not be harmed as we walk in this faith. This next part of His prayer asks for our daily needs. Now, Jesus already knows everything that we need.

"For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things." (Matthew 6:32)

It is our priveledge and duty as His children to ask Him, He longs for us to; " Yet you do not have because you do not ask." (James 4:2)

This word daily in this request shows how important it is to Jesus that we never cease to pray. The next part of this prayer asks for forgiveness for our own sins and then proceeds to ask for self control so that we may forgive others as well. Forgiveness is a huge part to attain pure freedom in Christ; “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you."

(Matthew 6:14)

No matter how hard it may feel or how impossible you think it is to forgive all who may have hurt you, I can assure you that with God nothing is impossible. He will give us the grace we need to let it go and give it all to Him. For He wishes to help us with our burdens so that we may live at peace and not harbor bitterness in our hearts. And lastly in this prayer Jesus is teaching us to pray against temptations and evil. We have an enemy and our enemy has workers beside him too. These look to cause us to fall away from God, our faith and to make us feel weak. "He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil."

(I John 3:8) As we follow Jesus, we are going to be constantly tempted or pressured by the Adversary. It is our job to pray against them each day just as it was when we pray to ask for our necessities. We are to fight with the Lord to help more souls be saved from the bondage of satan. We are to rid ourselves of all objects and areas that may give him an open door to come on in and trample on us. Again, I must say the Lord is so good to us! He gave us His life, His Blood, His tools to go out and He taught us how to use these tools for His glory to be shown. This prayer is packed full with knowledge from heaven, so simple yet so versatile! When we pray we must claim that God is sovereign and in charge while giving thanks, we must claim His will for our lives and submit to it completely, we must then proceed with asking for what we may need and finally praying against all evil and deception that may fall upon us each day. What a beautiful lesson we can all take in and praise God for it! He truely does provide everything we need to walk in spirit and grow in faith. Let us take His advice and speak our prayers in these steps; giving thanks, honoring God, asking from our Father and fighting evil. We are all in this together, for He is Our Father who is in Heaven!

Prayer:

Father God, who is in Heaven, thank you for teaching me the most beautiful steps to pray and claim Your glory, gifts and to understand how stand up against evil. I declare Your sovereignty today as I walk this earth as Your daughter/son. I ask for my daily bread; not just the physical things I will need today but the spiritual bread I will need to be fed today. I ask for forgiveness for any unknown sin in my life and I pray against any demonic force that may try and tempt me to sin. I rebuke evil in the Name of Jesus and I decree I am a child of the King who defeated the works of the devil. All the praise and honor is to Jesus the Messiah who came in flesh to filfill all prophecies and take back this world He made. I long to do what so ever You need of me and I pray for protection, strength, self control and clarity in my mind as I am led by You alone. I seek You first. I love You first. May Your light shine so brightly today through me. I receive blessings and wisdom from above as You are willing. In Your Precious Name I pray, Jesus Christ. Amen.