Learning to Pray, Again

The Lord’s Prayer is familiar enough to recite from memory. But have we considered what we are actually asking God to do?

Recently, I was talking with someone about prayer.

How do I pray?

What should I pray for?

What does prayer even look like?

I've thought about those questions a lot over the years.

There are many Scriptures about prayer. There are good models for prayer. There are prayers I use regularly myself. These can give us structure when we don't know where to begin, and they can bring us back when our prayer life has become scattered.

But if someone asked me where to start, I think I would take them to the place Jesus took His disciples.

They asked Him how to pray.

And He taught them:

“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.And 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

Most of us have heard those words hundreds of times.

Some of us can recite them without thinking.

And maybe that's part of the problem.

Slow It Down

What if instead of simply reciting the Lord's Prayer, we stopped at every phrase?

Our Father.

Stop there.

What does it mean that Jesus begins by teaching us to approach God as Father?

Hallowed be Your name.

What does that mean?

What would it look like for God's name to be honored and made holy in my life?

Then we come to:

Your kingdom come.

Don't rush past that.

Jesus had been proclaiming that the kingdom of God was near. His disciples were watching Him demonstrate what that kingdom looked like.

And now He teaches them to pray:

Your kingdom come.

That's not a small prayer.

Do We Realize What We're Asking?

Then comes the phrase that may be even more challenging:

Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

We can say that very easily.

But think about what we're asking.

God, let Your will be done.

In my home.

In my marriage.

With my children.

In my work.

With my money.

With my future.

With my plans.

With my very life.

Your will.

Not simply mine with Your blessing attached to it.

That's a different kind of prayer.

And Jesus wasn't teaching this prayer from a safe distance.

He knew where His own obedience was leading.

The cross was ahead.

His death was ahead.

His resurrection was ahead.

The disciples couldn't yet comprehend what was coming, but Jesus did.

And He was preparing them for life in the kingdom He was proclaiming.

That gives these words tremendous weight.

A Kingdom Prayer

When I slow the Lord's Prayer down, I see so much more in it.

It's a prayer to a Father.

It's a kingdom prayer.

It's a prayer of surrender.

It's a prayer for provision:

Give us today our daily bread.

It's a prayer of forgiveness:

Forgive us... as we forgive.

It's a prayer that acknowledges spiritual battle:

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

And right in the center of it is this abandonment of ourselves to God:

Your kingdom come. Your will be done.

That's not passive language.

We're inviting the rule and reign of God into the actual places where we live.

And when we pray that sincerely, we shouldn't be surprised when God begins working in those places.

Sometimes His work may disrupt our plans.

Sometimes forgiveness may be required.

Sometimes something in us may need to change.

Sometimes obedience may cost us something.

Sometimes His will may look very different from ours.

We prayed:

Your kingdom come. Your will be done.

What did we think that might mean?

Start Here

So when someone asks me, How do I pray?, maybe one of the simplest answers is:

Start where Jesus told us to start.

But don't rush through it.

Take the Lord's Prayer one phrase at a time.

Sit with it.

Look at those words in Scripture.

Ask God:

What does this mean?

Why did Jesus teach His disciples to pray this?

What would this look like in my life?

What am I actually asking You to do?

You might spend an entire prayer time on two words:

Our Father.

Or:

Your kingdom.

Or:

Your will.

That's enough.

Prayer doesn't have to begin with finding more words.

Sometimes it begins by finally paying attention to the words Jesus has already given us.

The Lord's Prayer isn't something to get through.

It's an invitation into the heart of God, His kingdom, His provision, His forgiveness, His protection and His will.

So if you don't know how to pray, start there.

Slow down.

Take it one phrase at a time.

And before you move to the next one, consider the weight of what you're saying.

Because when we pray,

“Your kingdom come, Your will be done,”

we're not merely reciting a prayer.

We're inviting God into everything.