What is the Lord’s Prayer? How is the Lord’s Prayer a model for our prayers? from Compelling Truth
The Lord’s Prayer, also sometimes called the Disciples’ Prayer, is found in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4. It has been memorized by countless people throughout history and is often recited corporately. Rather than view the prayer as a sort of magical formula or rote prayer, it is helpful to see it as a model.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name: Jesus begins His exemplary prayer by acknowledging to whom He is praying. God is our Father, meaning that He cares for us. God resides in heaven, implying that He is above us (Isaiah 55:8-9). We hallow His name, meaning we declare that it is holy. This opening line, then, recognizes that God is both our Father and our King. He loves us, and He is far greater than we.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven: After acknowledging the character of God, we pray for His purposes. Because God cares for us and is greater than we, we submit our will to His. We trust that His way is better and pray that His will be accomplished on earth.
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We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors: We not only desire God’s will on a grand scale, but also on the smaller scale of our lives. We look to Him for our daily needs—spiritual, practical, relational, emotional, and physical (Matthew 6:33).
Our biggest need is to be forgiven. Without God’s forgiveness, we are dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1). With His forgiveness, we are made alive in Christ (Colossians 2:13). Because we are forgiven, we are called to forgive. Forgiveness restores our fellowship with God and with others. With forgiveness, we can obey the command to love God and love others (Matthew 22:37-40).
