Principles for Powerful Prayers - Part 2

Pray in this manner

Is Jesus about to teach us a prayer we should always repeat? If we mindlessly repeat this prayer would not that become a vain repetition that Jesus warned about? (Matthew 6:7 Principles for Powerful Prayers part 1) This can be the case if we thoughtlessly repeat the model prayer. However, Jesus tells us to pray in this manner, and not to repeat these words. The model prayer is meant to be that, a model, it teaches us about prayer, but it is not a magical incantation. It is ironic that some repeat these words multiple times as if their frequent repetition would develop spirituality.

The model prayer teaches us the key components and attitudes that we should incorporate into our prayer lives.

Jesus did not say, “Pray in these words.” He said, “Pray after this manner”; that is, “Use this prayer as a pattern, not as a substitute.”
- Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 26.

Our Father

In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
- Matthew 6:9 NKJV

Jesus teaches us how to approach the Almighty God, we are to call Him Father. When we pray “we are not approaching a cold-hearted deity or an unpredictable super human.”  (Jack W. Hayford, Prayer Is Invading the Impossible (Orlando, FL: Bridge-Logos, 1977), 121.)

The Greek “Father” (pater) probably translates the Aramaic Abba (cf. Mark 14:36). Use of this intimate term for God (almost equivalent to the English “Daddy”) was virtually unparalleled in first-century Judaism. Christians should consider God as accessible as the most loving human parent. (“Father” should not be read as implying that God has gender or sexuality.)
- Craig Blomberg, Matthew, vol. 22, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 119.

However referring to God as Father has its challenges, mainly that our relationship with our earthly father impacts our relationship with God. But God should not be mirrored in the image of any human being except Jesus.

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
- John 1:18 NKJV

God is not only real and powerful, but He loves you as a father loves his child.

Pray directly to God

In the model prayer, Jesus also teaches us to come to the Father directly in our prayers. I don’t highlight this to be super technical or to argue over the validity of praying to Jesus ( Acts 7:59; Revelation 22:20; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 16:22; 2 Corinthians 12:8) but rather as a reminder that there is no biblical support to pray to any saints or Jesus’ earthly mother or any other heavenly or spiritual being.

“And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.
- John 16:3 NKJV

For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
- Ephesians 2:18 NKJV

Pronouns

There are no singular pronouns in the model prayer. The prayer is structured in such a way that the answer will bring a blessing to God’s people. God is our Father, not just my Father. By referring to God as our Father I see myself as a member of God’s family. If God is our Father, then that makes you my sister and my brother.

There is no room in the model prayer for my personal benefit at the cost of another. We begin the prayer with God in focus, then we mention our needs. God is concerned about our needs, he is aware of them. (Matthew 6:8)

“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
- Matthew 6:8 NKJV

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
- James 4:1-3 NKJV

If our prayer is not to inform God of our needs, because He already knows, then why pray? Could it be that our prayers prepare our hearts and minds to receive and properly handle the answer? Could it be that the act of praying makes me less selfish with the blessings I will receive and makes me more conscious of the kingdom of God?

When I pray to God who is our Father I am reminded that I belong to a family and my prayer shifts from selfish desires to a desire for unity and for the needs of members of my family. I don’t want to get into who is a member of the family and who isn’t. My approach is that when in doubt, draw a larger circle.

In Heaven

As much as I can relate to God as someOne Who is very close to me, I must balance that with an understanding of His sovereignty and majesty. There are two ditches we can fall into. One is to consider God so distant that I can never approach Him and so I reach out to other beings, angels, saints, spirits, powers etc.

The other ditch is that I consider God to be my close and intimate friend and I fail to give Him the respect and obedience He deserves. I can take Him for granted and disrespect Him in my lifestyle. God is not my rich buddy, He is not my magical grandpa whose only goal in life is to spoil me and give me whatever I want.

The next line in the prayer supports this respect for God.

Hollowed be Your name

God’s name is not to be taken lightly. I have seen people go off the deep end regarding God’s name. Some insist on calling Him by what they believe to be His true name or His Jewish name. I have read all kinds of creative spellings and heard many interesting takes on the proper pronunciation of God’s name. People will say, it’s not Jesus, it’s Yeshua, or it’s not God, it’s Yahweh, or Adonai, or Elohim, of Yahowah, the list goes on.

The fact that God does not consistently give us a specific name throughout the Bible indicates that He does not seem too concerned about being called a specific name. Jesus teaches us to call God Father. It seems to me that God is interested in revealing Himself to us through His name. There are many Bible studies that go through the names of God used in the Old Testament, you can see a list here.

God seems less interested in how we pronounce His name and much more concerned about us knowing His character. So whenever you reference God, do it with respect, do it politely, do it with honor and high regard. Don’t shout it when you’re angry or frustrated, or when you stub your tow on the corner of the bed at night, or when your shin finds your truck’s trailer hitch.

I also believe that the observation about us taking on the title of Christians or followers of God brings with it the responsibility of living in such a way that honors our title of follower of God, child of God, etc. So, if you are going to call on God as your Heavenly Father, live your life as His earthly child in a way that honors His character.

I would not lose sleep over the correct pronunciation of God’s name. Instead, I would focus on knowing who God is and what His character is like.

5 Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
- Exodus 34:5-7 NKJV

Whose will and kingdom?

Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
- Matthew 6:10 NKJV

Jesus teaches us to consider first God’s kingdom and His will. What makes heaven heavenly is the willingness of its inhabitants to follow God’s will. What makes life on earth so miserable are the consequences of our rebellion against the will of God. (Romans 6:23; 5:12; 8:19-23; Galatians 6:7-8; Isaiah 59:2; Ezekiel 18:20; 1 John 3:4; Romans 3:23; Genesis 3, etc.)

Desiring for God’s will to be done is what having Him as king is all about. How can we call Him God if we place our will above His? When we value our desires above God’s desires for our lives we have just placed ourselves above God. We just subjugated almighty God to the position of our servant, a magical genie to grant us our wishes. Not to mention that the selfish and wicked desires of sinful humans are the reason for a great deal of suffering that exists in our world today.

Prayer is not about making God do what we want, but about aligning our desires with His.

““Prayer is a mighty instrument, not for getting man’s will done in heaven, but for getting God’s will done in earth.””

— Robert Law, quoted by Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 26.te Source

Daily Bread

Give us this day our daily bread.
- Matthew 6:11 NKJV

The model prayer begins with a focus on God and now shifts to our needs.

The pattern of meaningful prayer is to begin by majoring on the person and nature of God and his kingdom interests, coming to personal requests and needs only secondarily.
- Stuart K. Weber, Matthew, vol. 1, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 81.

Jesus was speaking to fishermen, farmers, and workmen, humble men and women who experienced uncertain living conditions and struggled due to drought, oppressive taxation, and other hardships. Oftentimes it is those who have little of this world’s comforts who are most aware of their dependence on God for the necessities of life. God can seem less important when you have enough and some to spare.

Jesus is teaching us to come to God in order to receive a daily supply of what is sufficient for life. Everything that we have comes from God, and He is able to provide for our physical as well as for our spiritual needs.

Note that the prayer Jesus taught makes requests for our needs and not our greed.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
- James 4:3NKJV

You may become frustrated because you’re asking God about next year’s supply and though God may provide that, oftentimes He takes care of our needs one day at a time.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
- Matthew 6:34 NKJV

My approach to this is to practice trusting God’s promises and not lose sleep over the possibilities and challenges of the distant future, because I know that my God is my provider and has always provided me and my family with our daily bread, with what was necessary to sustain life.

Forgiveness

And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
- Matthew 6:12 NKJV

We need forgiveness.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
- Romans 3:23 NKJV

Forgiveness is emphasized throughout the Bible as a fundamental aspect of following God.

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
- Ephesians 4:32 NKJV

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
- 1 John 1:9 NKJV

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
- Matthew 18:21-22 NKJV

“Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
- Luke 6:37 NKJV

bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
- Colossians 3:13 NKJV

I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
- Psalm 32:5 NKJV

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
- Ephesians 4:31-32 NKJV

Forgiveness is not only something we desperately need but it is also something we must offer to those around us. Every time I come to God in need of forgiveness I am reminded that I also must forgive those who sin against me. This is not easy. But the Bible is very clear on this, this is not optional. Jesus’ Semon on the Mount is full of simple and practical challenges that feel impossible and this is one more. We can only do this as the Holy Spirit moves in our hearts. We need God living in us to do this, but this reminds us that we do not get to hold a grudge and withhold forgiveness from another.

A lawyer preached a great sermon at our church on this topic and you can watch it on YouTube, its title is “The Enemy Within.”

In case you were thinking that forgiveness is not that big of a deal Jesus addresses it again after the prayer

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
- Matthew 6:14-15 NKJV

Forgiveness, reconciliation, unity, and harmony are important.

As v. 15 stresses, without this interpersonal reconciliation on the human level, neither can we be reconciled to God.
- Craig Blomberg, Matthew, vol. 22, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 120.

Deliver us

And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
- Matthew 6:13 NKJV

The line “do not lead us into temptation has bothered me for a long time. Here are the most helpful explanations I found in my study of this phrase.

Rather, in light of the probable Aramaic underlying Jesus’ prayer, these words seem best taken as “don’t let us succumb to temptation” (cf. Mark 14:38) or “don’t abandon us to temptation.”
- Craig Blomberg, Matthew, vol. 22, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 120.

 “Lead us not into temptation” does not mean that God tempts His children (James 1:13–17). In this petition we are asking God to guide us so that we will not get out of His will and get involved in a situation of temptation (1 John 5:18), or even in a situation of tempting God so that He must miraculously rescue us (Matt. 4:5–7).
- Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 26.

Temptation. Gr. peirasmos, “temptation,” also “trial,” or “test,” as in 1 Peter 4:12. The verb form, peirazō, is translated “prove” (John 6:6), “assayed” (Acts 16:7), “examine” (2 Cor. 13:5), and “try,” or “tried” (Heb. 11:17; Rev. 2:2, 10; Rev. 3:10). Even when the English word “temptation” is used to render peirasmos it is sometimes clear from the context that it means “test,” or “trial” (Acts 20:19; James 1:2; cf. 1 Peter 4:12). The Scriptures make it clear that God “tests,” or “proves,” men (see Gen. 22:1; Ex. 20:20; etc.) but never tempts them to sin (James 1:13).

The petition should perhaps be understood as a request, “Do not permit us to enter into temptation” (see 1 Cor. 10:13; see on Ps. 141:4). This part of the Lord’s Prayer is sometimes understood as a plea to God to remove all temptation from us. But God’s promise is not that we shall be protected from temptation, but that we shall be protected from falling (John 17:15). Too often we willfully place ourselves in the way of temptation (see on Prov. 7:9). Truly to pray “lead us not into temptation” is to renounce the ways of our own choosing and to submit to the ways of God’s choosing.
- Francis D. Nichol, ed., The Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980), 347.

Another verse that helps us interpret this one is 1 Corinthians 10:13.

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
- 1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV

What about the doxology at the end of verse 13?

Thine is the kingdom. This clause introduces the doxology to the Lord’s Prayer. Important textual evidence may be cited (cf. p. 146) for the omission of this doxology. It is not in Luke’s version of the prayer (Luke 11:4). However, the sentiment it expresses is certainly scriptural, and closely parallels 1 Chron. 29:11–13. A shorter doxology occurs in 2 Tim. 4:18.

The “kingdom,” “power,” and “glory” here ascribed to the Father certainly include the present kingdom of divine grace in the hearts of men, but look forward primarily to the glorious kingdom to be ushered in with the return of Christ to this earth to reign in power and glory (see on v. 10).
- Francis D. Nichol, ed., The Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980), 347.

Though most biblical scholars agree that the doxology was not present in the original text it gives the prayer an appropriate conclusion and does not affect the meaning of the words of Jesus. Personally, I don’t mind this “doxology” and find it a fitting reminder that ultimately God is in control.

Conclusion

God, our dear heavenly Father! His name hallowed, his kingdom extended, his will done. Our needs supplied, our sins forgiven, our temptations overcome.
- Michael Green, The Message of Matthew: The Kingdom of Heaven, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 101.

What a powerful prayer! We can model our own prayers after it, develop a stronger relationship with God and as a result, find ourselves praying powerful prayers.