Week 5: March 6-12
The Lord’s Prayer
This year we are focusing on two of our greatest privileges as children of God: prayer and evangelism. We must learn how to be people of prayer! Many people struggle with prayer and need a starting point to begin. You are not the first person to wonder, “How should I pray?” The disciples asked Jesus the same question in Luke 11. In verse 1 a disciple asks Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” It is not a shameful thing to say, “I’m not great at prayer and need to work on it.” It is a shameful and sinful thing to ignore God’s command to pray. Jesus gives us the well-known Lord’s prayer to teach us how to pray. Many have memorized the beautiful, powerful words to this prayer! But Jesus is not asking us to simply recite the words, He is giving us a model to follow. Jesus gives us 5 points in His prayer that we can use as a model for prayer.
1. Praise – Hallowed be your name
Jesus begins by giving praise to God. This adjusts our focus from ourselves to our Lord. Many of us start prayer with requests and needs. But we must not forget that we are praying to the holy, powerful God who formed the universe!
2. Submission – Your kingdom come
This is a very important phrase. Before we give God our list of demands, we need to adjust our thinking and attitude. This phrase is an acknowledgment that God is in control and we need to pray for His plan and His will, not our own. If we truly want God to fulfill His plans, this will adjust our thinking about our own plans and requests.
3. Simplicity – Give us each day our daily bread
Jesus now focuses on the needs of today. This is a hard one to think through. As American Christians we live in a time where we save, we stockpile, and we amass wealth and possessions unlike any previous generation. Unfortunately, we often ask God for things that aren’t really needs, but simply wants and desires. James 4:3 talks specifically about praying for things just to spend fulfill our passions. Examine your requests and consider how they fit into Jesus’s example.
4. Forgiveness – and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us
We need to have a time in prayer when we examine our hearts and ask God to forgive us of the sins that we have committed against Him. Jesus also acknowledges that we ought also forgive others who have sinned against us. This phrase assumes that as a Christ-follower who has been forgiven, you are forgiving others.
5. Protection – and lead us not into temptation.
Jesus is not asking for physical protection, but protection from temptation. The protection we need most on a daily basis is from our flesh, the world, and the devil. The greatest threat to us is not physical danger, but falling away from our faith during temptation or trial.
Talk together as a family about prayer. Talk about ways you can set aside times to pray together as a family and times when each family member can pray to God on their own. Talk about how you can follow this wonderful model that Jesus has given us in the Lord’s prayer.
Pray Together
- Practice using the Lord’s Prayer as a guide for your closing prayer.
- Pray that God will create an opportunity for a Gospel conversation this week!
- Pray that God will develop in us a culture of prayer and dependence on Him to do the work that we endeavor to do.
Further Reading
- Read Matthew 6:5-14. It is an alternate passage containing the Lord’s Prayer.
- Read James 4:1-4. James talks about selfish prayers that are the opposite of the Lord’s Prayer.