Prayer: The Disciples’ Prayer

Thursday, March 11th, 2010 | Lent Meditations, Spiritual Disciplines

This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ -Matthew 6:9-13

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, He wasn’t just giving them the words of a specific prayer, He was teaching them a pattern for prayer. His pattern includes praise to God, praying for the world to be set right and God’s Kingdom to be advanced, prayer that our daily needs would be met, confession and forgiveness, requests for guidance and protection, and closing praise to God. The closing praise is also acknowledgement of, and submission to, God’s unique authority and power.

Including all of these elements in our prayers helps us to pray beyond ourselves and align our heart with God’s desires. The following is a paraphrase of the prayer Jesus taught. Would you pray it to God, pausing for a moment at the end of each line to consider what you have prayed?

Our Father, above us and all around us,
May your unspeakable Name be revered.

Here to earth, may your kingdom come.
Here on earth, may your will be done as it is in heaven.

Give us today our bread for today.
And forgive us our wrongs as we forgive those who wrong us.

Lead us away from the time of trial.
But liberate us from the evil.

For the kingdom is yours and yours alone,
And the power is yours and yours alone,
And the glory is yours and yours alone.
Amen.

Tags: Lent 2010, Prayer