T

he Lord’s Prayer

Dan Dempsey,

Servant of Jesus Christ

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: [For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.] Matthew 6:9-13 [KJV]

Christians and non-Christians alike are very familiar with this prayer that the Lord Jesus himself spoke on this chapter of Matthew.  If you have ever been into a church, especially the more mainstream denominations you will often recite this as a part of nearly every service.

To many this has always been known as the Lord’s Prayer.  However, this is not an accurate title, since the Lord did not pray this prayer.  In fact, the actual Lord’s Prayer was the one he gave in the Garden of Gethsemane in John 17.  However I will use this particular prayer example in this article to unravel what I believe it means.

If you are a bit like me, you will probably engage your brain in neutral while your tongue and larynx burble it out.  You are not required to think on what you are saying and neither does that bother you, or the priest, vicar, pastor or Mrs Brown sitting next to you.  You don’t care if the man reciting it who always arrives late and has a body odour problem gets daily bread today or not.  

It’s just as well you don’t think because to this day you have no idea what, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven” means.

Your brain may twitch when it comes to, “forgive our debtors”, given that fact that Mr Charlesworth’s SUV with his six kids and his lovely wife cut into the parking spot ahead of you and stole where you normally park.

The instruction is fairly simple, Jesus tells us that to pray to God we just pray the above.  Right?

So if were true then say your business is failing.  Never mind, you just pray the Lord’s Prayer and your problems are solved.  If things are going great, pray the same as gratitude.

Or how about this.  If I was to write an instruction book for boys and girls in how to address and talk to their parents then I could say something like this:

Every morning, this is how you should address your parents. Say this to them:

Dear Mum and Dad, you are the best mum and dad in the world.

Give me weetbix and milk with sugar to eat, and takeaways for dinner.

You can forgive me for what i did wrong yesterday, because I forgave my friends.

Protect me today from bullies and remove anything that may cause me to annoy you.

Thanks, love you.

Now we have all been a child once.  I bet you that not one of you think that my recommendation above is serious.  

Here is a good reason why my recommendation is silly.  Imagine if they really wanted scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast.  What would they do…

Dear Mum and Dad, you are the best mum and dad in the world.

[I really want eggs on toast, but] Give me weetbix and milk with sugar to eat, and takeaways for dinner.

…. Protect me today from bullies and remove anything that may cause me to annoy you [like the eggs in the fridge that I will cook up after].

Thanks, Love you

Now from the parents point of view, they would be horrified too at my recommendation.  For one thing, it is so shallow. There is no real conversation.  Even this is better!

Mum: Hi Dan, how was school today?

Dan:         OK

Dad:        What did you do?

Dan:         Nothing

Dad:         Nothing at all?

Dan:         Yep

Mum:         I am going to town to do some shopping, do you want anything?

Dan:         Nup

Mum:         Nothing?

Dan:         Nothing

Mum:         What do you want for breakfast tomorrow

Dan:         Weetbix

Mum:         How about something different, like Scrambled eggs on toast?

Dan:         [Thinking that is a great idea] Nup, weetbix.

Yes, a typical adolescent/parent conversation.  You see that formulated conversation like my “recommendation” is   But that is exactly what many people make the Lord’s Prayer.

Anyone with a basic sense of logic will deduce that there is more in what Jesus was instructing than in those five verses.  And indeed there is! Just as it is impossible to prescribe what a child should say to their parents to cover all scenarios of life, so Jesus cannot possibly tell us in five verses what to pray.  

The best clue that we are not to simply regurgitate word-for-word is found in the very first line of the Lord’s Prayer

“After this manner therefore pray ye:”

In the NET bible it says it in plain English:

“So pray this way: ​​​​​“

Straight away we see that we are to pray to the Father in this way, NOT exactly these words, but like this. Jesus just gave one example as a demonstration.

Lets look at a few places where the manner of something is talked about

1Sam 10:25 Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the LORD. [KJV]

This describes how the Israelite kingship would work.  It laid out the customs of the Kingdom of Israel.  What Samuel did was to provide a framework.

This same use of manner to describe custom is seen in here in the Second Book of Kings.

2Kgs 11:14 And when she [Athaliah] looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was…[KJV]

Now we turn our attention to Nehemiah where he notice the phrase -  “same manner.”  

Neh 6:4 Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner.  [KJV]

Here, Nehemiah answers back the same way each time.  That is how the NET bible translates it too.

One something you may conclude from reading the Old Testament Prophets is how God got them to do some pretty bizarre stuff to illustrate his prophecies.  Everything from running around for years in your underwear to lying only on one side for days on end, then only on the other side.  This shows God is a great teacher.  Jeremiah’s brand new ruined linen shorts is one of these odd examples.

Jer 13:9 Thus saith the LORD, After this manner [his ruined shorts] will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.

The linen shorts were ruined when Isaiah buried them - good for nothing.  Now if we take the term, “this manner,” as being literally exactly as illustrated then we would have to assume that the people of Israel would be buried in a hole in Perath and left as good for nothing.  That didn’t happen exactly like this, but they did end up good for nothing due to their disobedience which occurred soon after when The Balylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and took the Israelites into slavery.

A TEXT TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT IS A PRETEXT.

If you look up the word manner in the dictionary it will say something like this

Manner (n): A way of doing something or a way in which a thing is to be done.  A style or customary way of doing or accomplishing something.

synonyms: fashion, sytle, form, conduct, behaviour.

To conclude this point, there is a literal manner (denoted by the term same manner) and and a figurative, demonstrative or illustratory manner (denoted by the term this manner).  Manner is also a term used for customs and policies. It is how you conduct yourself.  So notice the exact wording of Jeremiah 13:9 and compare that to Matthew 6:9.  Both use the term “After this manner” and both are illustrations.  Both also allude to manner being after a certain style or format rather than an obligatory set of statements.

THE LAW OF CONTEXT

A very important rule when studying the bible and interpreting scripture is to ensure that you take the verses you read in its context.  This is called the Law of Context and basically states that a text taken out of context is a pretext.  There are many sad examples of false doctrines that exist in world religions and denominations that take isolated verses out of context and therefore over time that becomes dogma.  Basically, you or I or any weirdo can take their views and find a bible verse to support.  But that is only true if we avoid the Law of Context.  But correct doctrine takes the entirety of scripture to support it.    Take Holy Spirit Baptism.  It is a fundamental Christian doctrine, but denominational doctrine exists that result in baptism by laying on of hands and then receiving, or baptism automatically occurring at repentance.  Both sides can justify on the basis of a few verses.

I devote quite a bit of time to studying Christian Cults.  A characteristic of each one is the often extreme doctrines they have while supported by one or two bible verses.  Almost without fail, the counter argument is context. Many false doctrines that exist in these churches are created fromsimply violating the rules of the Law of Context.  The counteracting verses against them are usually found close by their key scriptures.  

I challenge you to consider this point when you next open your bibles, and especially if you examine your churches doctrinal beliefs or discover conflicting arguments between two churches. The Word of God will truly open up for you if you do.

Now I raise this as this is what happens in this case.  

First let us examine the context: This instruction was a small part of the famous “Sermon on the Mount.” It begins in Matthew 5:1 and concludes at Chapter 8 verse 1.  The parallel is in Luke 6:17-29

The cultural context us that the sermon was given almost immediately after the selection of the 12 disciples, it was at a time when Jesus was becoming famous with his works and the people who were looking for a redeemer thought that maybe, just maybe, He is the One! It was also when he was gaining notoriety and having run-ins with the Jewish leadership, particularly the Pharisees over Mosaic Law and attaining righteousness.   This is seen in Matthew 5:20

PRAYER IS AS ESSENTIAL TO CHRISTIAN LIFE AS EATING AND BREATHING

For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

The whole crux of the Sermon was Jesus interpretation of the true requirements of righteousness as interpreted under Mosaic Law and how out of position this is with the Pharisaic viewpoint, where righteousness is attained by following the rules and regulations of pharisaic doctrines.   Understanding that context is important for what follows, so keep that concept fresh.

Lets read Matthew 6:5-8.

Matt 6:5 “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.

Now hopefully, in verse 5 you can see the context coming through.  In context, that verse makes sense, and is hardly surprising to hear Jesus saying that.

Matt 6:6 But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

So rather than praying where everyone can hear you, disappear to your room and literally pray in secret.  Now what does this tell us?  That we should always pray in secret?  No!  There are other examples in scripture where it recommends corporate or public prayer. Again, this must be taken in context.  Here Jesus is telling us that these prayers are private prayers.  It is us communicating with God.  It is between us and God alone.  You can begin to see the reason.  Sometimes prayer in public is made because it makes people feel important in front of people.  It is very hard to impress someone if you are the only one in the room!  With these words Jesus neutralized the Pharisees.

I will stick my head out and make a small confession to you all. I dislike most prayer meetings. Here is why. I cannot pray those huge eloquent prayers that some make, mine are short and I bumble along.  I have prayed and prayed that I will get inspiration to pray those kinds of prayers but the Lord in his wisdom has not given that to me.  Whenever I try to make an oratory prayer like the experts I tend to drift my thoughts to what everyone is thinking.  Do they like what I am praying?  Are they impressed? There are real pressures on church leaders to be seen to lead by making such oratory prayers which is unfair.  In many respects, Matthew 6:5 comes to mind.  As I see it though, some prayers seem more geared to impressing man than God.  That is why I am thankful to Jesus for telling us to go and pray in private.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I believe that prayer meetings do have an essential role in the church and are often attended by many outstanding prayer warriors.

I used to think that prayer was a gift of the Holy Spirit – A gifting I did not have, but that has no scriptural basis.  Prayer is as essential to the Christian life as eating and breathing.  

So now we have the context of what this section is all about – Private Prayer.

BABBLING BROOKS

Matt 6:7 When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard.

Now the killer blow for the all too frequent interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer. It has been described beautifully by Jesus himself as us gentiles babbling repetitiously!  It is babbled out with monotonous regularity in churches across the world on Sundays and thrown in for good measure whenever the opportunity lends itself.

Secondly, at the time of Jesus, all Gentile prayer was through prayer books.  Never was a spontaneous prayer uttered.  Isn’t it interesting that many mainstream denominations still have prayer books?  The Lord’s Prayer is one of those it adds.

Finally Matt 6:8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

So after ripping down the establishment, Jesus then rebuilds the correct way.  To points should be brought out at this point. The first is that Jesus spoke against prescribed prayer, but the second is that he did not say, “anything goes.”  It should follow a format.  So we come back full circle to, “So pray this way: ​​​​​“

SO PRAY THIS WAY

Jesus gave us a bullet pointed outline to assist us in our private prayer.  I will use the King James Version as it is one that most people are familiar:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

We are to begin by addressing the one to whom we are praying to. It is interesting to note that the one we are to pray to throughout the Old and New Testaments is to God the Father.  There is no record of people praying directly to God the Son, Jesus or to God the Holy Spirit.  It’s perhaps easy to understand that the Old Testament shows prayer to God the Father alone since Jesus and Holy Spirit had not yet been revealed.  There are examples in the New Testament where people prayed to the Father alone.

WE ARE EXPECTED TO PRAY TO GOD THE FATHER

Eph 1:17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him,

Phil 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God.

Col 1:3 We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

We are therefore expected to pray to God the Father.

The reason why we don’t pray to the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit is the one that guides us in prayer to the Father.  All our prayers originate from God in the first place.  When we pray in the Spirit, it is the Spirit that is praying back to the Father. The Holy Spirit does not tell us to pray to the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps this is relevant, but how often have you heard people praying to the Holy Spirit for the Holy Spirit to enter into someone.  “Come Holy Spirit, Come.”  Or even asking the Holy Spirit to cover the meeting.  Yet the bible says what?

Luke 11:13 … how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, … [KJV]

Secondly, we are to give Him praise and reflect on His name.  His name is to be sanctified, that is, set apart.  He gave us instructions that we are to have no God’s before him.  That is what we are establishing at this point.

Take a Hindu who is asked to pray this prayer.  I am not sure he can cope with the Our Father part, but many religions can.  Then he gets to Hallowed be thy name.  They don’t have a problem here because they revere their god, or gods.  So the phrase in itself is meaningless, but by hallowing His name, you establish who you are addressing.  Here are some of God’s names that set Him apart, or sanctify his name.

YHWH (Yahweh), Jehovah – the great “I am”, the one who exists and has existed and continues to exist.  He is the Keeper of Covenants. No other God has that name.  Our God is unique. YHWH attributes God as Holy and that he hates Sin.  In scripture, you won’t find YHWH but you will see LORD (All caps) in its place.

God Almighty or El Shaddai – The one who can make covenants

Elohim – Strong and Mighty.  The creator God.  It must be noted that Elohim is a name given to anything strong and mighty such as false gods, kings and rulers.

Adonai – Lord, Master, Owner.  It is a word like Elohim that is used for more than just God since you do get earthly lords, masters and owners.  However in scripture, Whenever Lord has a capital it means God but the lower case, lord, is reserved for men or others.

In the context of God, Lord means absolute Ruler over all. Master gives him the right to absolute obedience, while Owner has the right to absolute control.

In all these cases it emphasises the need for the servant (you and me) to expect direction.  Calling God Adonai is to call on his direction.

Those are the primary Old Testament (Hebrew) words for God.  There are many more compound words for God. Each one shows an attribute of God and knowledge of each one enables us to really add power to what we pray.  I will take the liberty of borrowing from Dr Arnold Fructenbaum listing some here:

Almighty God of Hosts (leader of the angelic armies), Provider, Healer, Sanctifier, God of Peace,  God of Righteousness, Most High God, Everlasting God, God of Sight (the one who keeps watch), God of recompense (the One who avenges), King, Shield, Judge, Rock, Fortress, Tower, Deliverer, Shepherd, Husband, Redeemer, Father, the Holy One of Israel, the Mighty One

That is a formidable list!  Can you see that just saying, ”hallowed by thy name,” means not much, but after meditating on the names of God, we understand in a big way who we are addressing.  Declaring the Names of God and understanding what they mean sets our minds in the right frame of reference.  

That surely gives you the confidence to know that whatever you next pray is worthwhile.  It can sometimes put into perspective what we are coming to God for in the first place.  Let’s be honest and say that most times people go to God it is because of a need. So even before we finish our prayer, we realise that our need is so insignificant or irrelevant that we wouldn’t dare to being it to God.  We laugh at ourselves for thinking it is such a big deal and instead raise more pressing issues.  I have found that to be true on numerous occasions.

However, if you do have a big issue, then you are confident that you are raising it with the very best person that can deal with it.  That too is true with me on numerous occasions.

Thy kingdom come.

This is an interesting one, and quite topical in our current climate.  Jesus asks us to pray that God’s kingdom comes, but did he not say the following?

Matt 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

He also have most parables that dealt with the Kingdom.  There are beliefs in some new churches that announce that God’s Kingdom is here already.  Again though, this is becoming a hotbed of contention within the Evangelical Churches, with some quirky doctrines creeping in to boot, so once again I draw toy back to context.  In a spiritual sense, we are living in God’s Kingdom, but in a physical sense, this world is still under the God given authority of Satan.  It is not until Satan is destroyed and God’s Kingdom is established on Earth that his Kingdom will come.  There is no space in this article to elaborate further on this point.

So what does then this line mean?

I means that we must pray for the realisation of the coming Kingdom.  That will occur when two things happen

1. The fullness of the Gentiles comes to God
2. The Gospel is preached to the entire world.
3. The nation of Israel repents and acknowledges Jesus Christ as Messiah.

So when we pray for the Kingdom, we are to pray that these two things get fulfilled.  How?  Firstly this is where we pray for the salvation of unbelievers, we pray for our church, other churches, our pastor, missionaries and evangelists that the church supports.  

God’s program is salvation for mankind.  Even if you are not a big time preacher, evangelist or have been called to some strange third world country, you can play an equal role in God’s program by praying for those that do.  At the very least pray for the salvation of your family members, your work colleague and anyone that the Holy Spirit leads you to pray for.

GOD’S PROGRAM IS SALVATION FOR MANKIND AND FOR THE NATIONAL REPENTANCE OF ISRAEL

When I was a young man, I used to read National Geographic and in Social Studies at school we would look at primitive tribes around the world.  As a young Christian I got exposed to stories from Missionaries who return from deep Africa with incredible stories.  So when I read this, what do I think

Matt 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

I think that surely the Gospel has been preached to the whole inhabited earth by now.  If National Geographic can show naked Amazonian Indians in deepest jungles of Brazil, and Dr Livingstone can carry the gospel into deepest Africa, then the end should be weeks away.  Do you think the same?

I live in Vanuatu.  I have a good friend from Tanna.  One day I asked him if he had heard about Jesus.  He looked quizzically at me – “who?”  I then asked if he believes there is a God – “what?”  That stunned me.  This man in his early 20s had never heard the gospel.  Not only that but his entire village had not!  You can get to his village within 12 hours including stopovers from Brisbane Australia or Auckland New Zealand.

My friend. We have a lot of work to do yet, if a mere 12 hours from major world cities there are entire villages still to hear the gospel.  So pray that God’s Kingdom Comes by praying that these people are reached.

Secondly, pray for the nation of Israel.  In particular, pray for Jerusalem, since Israel can be occupied but it will be the fall of Jerusalem that initiates the second coming of the Messiah.  You see, when there is national repentence by Israel for rejecting the Messiah the first time but turning back to God through the declaration and the calling out to Jesus Christ, or to Yeshua as they would say, as their Messiah, then, and literally immediately, Christ will return.

Ps 122:6 ​​​​​​​Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! ​​​​​​May those who love her prosper!

Rev 22:20 The one who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

Now I have not given the attention this particular requirement deserves.  But it needs to be said that this is absolutely vital to God’s Kingdom returning, for even if the fullness of the Gentiles comes in and the Gospel is preached to the full inhabited Earth, Christ will not set one foot back here in Earth until the Nation of Israel comes to national repentance.

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

This is a corollary of the previous statement.  God’s will is that all come to know him and accept Jesus as the Christ and our Lord.  

This also adds another dimension. God’s will is done in Heaven, but everyone in heaven is saved or don’t need saving, like angels.  So we declare that His Will will be also done on Earth too, that everyone is saved.  

There is a very tangible link between what happens in heaven gets reflected on Earth.  I will elaborate more on this later, but suffice to say that the heavens are a place of strong spiritual warfare.  The ramifications for the physical world are evident.  This is clearly shown in Daniel, where the prophet of that name prayed and fasted earnestly for 23 days and was getting no answers from God, when an angel appeared.

Dan 10:12-13 Then he said to me, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel, for from the very first day you applied your mind to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I have come in response to your words. 13 However, the prince of the kingdom of Persia was opposing me for twenty-one days. But Michael, one of the leading princes, came to help me, because I was left there with the kings of Persia.

Daniel’s prayers were heard but due to a battle in the heavens, the angel had trouble getting through.  He was fighting the prince of Persia.  That prince was most certainly a demonic prince that had power or authority over Persia. Eventually he did get through with Michael’s help.

So when we pray, we pray that God’s Will be done on Earth since his will is done in the heavens.  This is a point of spiritual warfare because we do God’s will be leading people to repentence which is the Will of God.  The angel added this at the end of his talk with Daniel.

Dan 10:20 He said, “Do you know why I have come to you? Now I am about to return to engage in battle with the prince of Persia. When I go, the prince of Greece is coming.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Now is the time to ask for what you need.  If you are in ministry, pray for that.  If you cannot pay your debts, pray for that.  If you are sick or one of your family are in trouble, pray for that.

You will notice here that this happens after we declare who God is, and we pray that His will is done. So, always remember when asking for things that you have just prayed that God’s will be done.

That means that if you ask God to send Mr Charlesworth nasty boils as punishment for stealing your carpark, it is unlikely that that is God’s will.  If you pray for a brand new sport car to beat Mr Charlesworth next week, that too may not be God’s Will.  If you pray that God sends you on the mission field or opens up a way to Bible College, then again that may not be God’s Will for you.  Or it might be!

Three times Jesus made this declaration

John 16:23 … I tell you the solemn truth, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

 Many use this as Jesus declaring that God is the great big vending machine in the sky.  Put the right prayer in, press the right button, invoke the name of Jesus and out pops whatever desire you want.

The trick is the phrase “In my name.”  That is not simply by ending prayers with, “in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”  To ask for something in His name firstly you must understand what his name is.  One thing it is not is The Holy Vending Machine, or ATM.

As we established earlier, God has names, we meditate on those names.  If you think of something that you asked God for but it never got answered, the chances are that something you did was not correct.  Trust me, I happens to me a lot!  

Try and think of something you asked for recently and then try praying again, but this time meditate on the names for God, reflect on what in means when we pray for his Kingdom coming and His will being done, and then try and ask.  I wouldn’t mind betting that your request now seems out of sync with what you just prayed.  It may even seem quite foolish.

Now of course this is not true in every case, since God may have very valid reasons for holding back.  I learn this fact all the time, but in the end, it is God who decides and it is God who chooses the timing.

Our biggest trouble is that many of our private prayers start something like this..

“Heavenly God, I have no money to pay for the Electricity bill this month.  It is due tomorrow so please send money now.  In the name of Jesus, Amen.”

That prayer just went to the Almighty God, your Lord, your Master. The creator of the universe and the one who judges and rules over all.  Even if that was not the case, if you are a parent, what would your reaction be if your child came rushing in and blurted that out.

Just be grateful that God is also a God of mercy.  He won’t strike you down for insolence, but he may expect you to at least say, “Please.”  Then again, he just might, if it is His will.  He may also not because it is His will to starve you of power for a month as practice because what you don’t know is that it is His will that you fly to Africa next month as a missionary.  They have no electricity so you had better learn to cope now while you are still comfortable!

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Many find it unusual to have this listed towards the end of the prayer.  Many exponents of prayer like to get this out the way first. The reasoning is that clearing the air as it were makes us more sanctified and purified in front of God.  Now I am not disputing that assumption and it does have merits.  But I still find it interesting that Jesus did not put this above the requests statement.

Again we see many people who have unanswered prayer.  Even if it is the will of God, still prayer is not answered.  Why that often occurs is because of unforgiveness.  In our daily lives we sin.  We are Human, and everyone sins and falls short of the Glory of God.

1John 1:9 But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

Let’s take an example.  Say we ask for something that is off the mark a little bit.  We sin by doing that, so by asking forgiveness we set it straight and God can answer.  I will illustrate

“Father God, I really like the girl next door, she is so sexy, I just can’t take my eyes off her.  [Sin - lust].  I want to marry her Lord.  Can you make it so that we meet over a milkshake soon and make he like me…..Now Father I ask for forgiveness, I realise that my thoughts for the girl next door are made out of lust, I actually really love her.  

See how your prayers come through as sin, but after you ask for forgiveness.  Now you are in a better position, and God is in a better position to say, OK.

If Jesus had said these statements the other way around you prayer would read like this…

ASKING FOR NEEDS COMES BEFORE ASKING FOR FORGIVENESS

Please forgive me for thinking lustful thoughts about the girl next door…. I really like the girl next door, she is so sexy, I just can’t take my eyes off her.  Please make her like me and see me as sexy too so that I can marry her.

So you clean the slate, then you blow it.  Your prayer will end with you in a sinful state.  I think Jesus knows our minds better than we do and knows that it is inevitable that when given the opportunity to ask for anything, we will automatically sin, even if that is asking for something outside the will of God.

So what do we ask forgiveness from?  Meditate at this time on anything you have done since the last prayer time.  If you pray once a week, then you have a lot to pray about.  If you pray every hour this will be quick.  That is one huge advantage in praying often.  You will undoubtedly sin without knowing.  Disobedience to God is one that is hard to see sometimes. Have you ever got prompted to talk to someone about Christ, or help someone, and you didn’t out of time constraints or fear or embarrassment? That is disobeying God and that is a Sin.  We as humans inherently have the Sin-nature.  We constantly slide into sin.  Because it it inherent we often sin subconsciously.  Even our thoughts lead us to sin.  If you think of taking that pen of the teacher’s desk, or thinking of filing a wrong tax return (like you can arrange to see that your tithes were $2,000 and not $200) that is sin.  Or maybe you have sexual fantasies but never carry them out.  It is still a sin.  

Isa 59:7 ​​​​​​​They are eager to do evil, ​​​​​​quick to shed innocent blood. ​​​​​​Their thoughts are sinful; ​​​​​​they crush and destroy.

These are things to pray about.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

The final thing to pray about concerns the area of spiritual warfare. I touched on this briefly in the section on God’s will being done.

Now we reach a point in our prayer that we have given God the glory he deserves, we pray that his will be done, we have got our requests out of the way and have cleansed from sin and furthermore we are re-empowered because we have no unforgiveness remaining.  We are now in a position to fight!

One of the favourite weapons that the devil uses against us is in the area of temptation.  We are all constantly tempted in many different areas of our lives.  For some it is in finance, for some in power, some fame, some sexually, some in other areas.  I know that personally I get tempted in certain areas and no doubt you do too, it is not a shock to find everyone tempted.

That is an area of spiritual warfare where we must contend with the Devil and come out victorious.  That victory was achieved at the cross.  Here is where we confirm that.

If you are in ministry, then we contend for our flock.  Satan will try to undermine your ministry.  Sadly, many fall because they succumb to temptation.  How many great men have fallen as a result of adultery.  I read recently were a prominent evangelist strongly against homosexuality in America was charged with that very crime.  For those in ministry this praying against temptation is most important.

The missing piece

[For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.]

This particular verse is included in the King James Version but not in the original text.  Some modern versions do not have this.  It was added by the KJV translators for some reason.  My thinking is that without it is ends to abruptly.  Maybe it is a more symmetrical prayer to end as you began, however, if you follow though my examples above, your prayer has no need to end in that fashion. Perhaps that is another clue that the prayer as given was an illustration only and represents a setoff guidelines rather than an actual complete prayer in its own right.

I was once a teacher in a Catholic School.  When we went to mass it struck me that they left this bit out.  I thought that was heretical.  Then the priest says a few more words, and then they end with this line. If you are an Anglican, you go right through and include this last bit.

Whether you include this or not is irrelevant, but in any case, the words are great so can surely do no harm.

What about the Name of Jesus?

Furthermore, remember that Jesus was explaining this prayer in line with what the Law demanded as a direct response to the Pharisees.  The Law does not demand saying anything in the name of Jesus simply because the Law was still in effect.  That came after death, burial and resurrection of Jesus on the cross.  Furthermore, examples in the New Testament of the use of the name of Jesus Christ in tended to be for more corporate (public) prayer.

Christ intercedes on our behalf as the eternal High Priest in heaven, so now that we gain access to God through the blood of Jesus Christ, For us the context has changed away from the Law, towards Christ. While the Bible is silent on whether we should pray in the name of Jesus, examples of corporate prayer using his name and the ordinance of Baptism using his name, then we can with a fair degree of confidence use his name in private prayer too.  

Eph 5:20 always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

I will add though that just as we must understand the name of God when we pray like this “Hallowed be thy name.” we should afford the same respect to Jesus too who has many different names.  Here are some: Wonderful, Counsellor, Almighty God, Prince of Peace, Lamb of God, Lion of Judah, Son of God, Son of Man, Alpha and Omega, Logos (the Word), Begotten, Only Begotten, First Begotten, Lord, Mediator, Intercessor, advocate, Saviour, Messiah, YHWH

Unless we know what exactly is the name of Jesus, we are no better off than just saying to God, Hallowed be thy name.”

To us Gentiles, we do not fully appreciate given names as much as a Jew does.  In Jewish tradition, the name given to someone represented their character.  This is reflected in scripture when God changed Abram (High Father) became Abraham (Father of Many), Sarai (Dominative) became Sarah (Mistress), Jacob (Supplanter) became Israel (he will rule as God), Simon (to hear and Obey) became Peter (Piece of Rock). Daniel means Judge of God, Samuel means Heard of God.  So to call in the name of someone means to call in the character of that person.

Certainly, at the time of Christ, Jewish babies were not named until being presented in the Temple.  They were given names that reflected their character.  ^[1]

Acts 19:13 But some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were possessed by evil spirits, saying, “I sternly warn you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

…

Acts 19:15 But the evil spirit replied to them, “I know about Jesus and I am acquainted with Paul, but who are you?”

Acts 19:16 Then the man who was possessed by the evil spirit jumped on them and beat them all into submission. He prevailed against them so that they fled from that house naked and wounded.

The Jewish exorcists did not come to deliver in the fashion of Jesus.  They did not come in his Character as Paul would have done. It was not enough just to invoke the name of Jesus by declaring, “In the name of Jesus.”  The importance is to come with the character of Jesus,  come as Jesus would.  How did Jesus approach God the Father? John Chapter 17 shows with humility and obedience.

So if we approach God and use the name of Jesus that means that we must approach God with the same Character of Jesus. It is not by finishing off your prayer as I personally do with, “in the name of Jesus,” that is important but rather coming to God in the same character of Jesus.  Then and only then will we get results.

SUMMARY

Here then is a quick rundown on how you should pray in private:

Firstly always have in mind  that you are to pray in the name, or the character of Jesus.

1. Address and mediatate declare who God is and what his names mean
2. Pray for unsaved believers and for Israel, especially Jerusalem
3. Ask for what you need, only aim to make this relevant to God’s Will.
4. Forgive others that have wronged you
5. Ask for forgiveness for your known and unknown sins.
6. Pray for protection from temptation.
7. Pray against the work of the devil, satanic and demonic forces.  

I pray that this helps your prayer life in the quiet of your room or in your quiet space.  Give it a go and write back if it was a help.  You will notice that your prayer becomes something that is well over the 60 seconds it takes to say the guideline.  Depending on what you say, it may take hours! Furthermore it will be a rich prayer and one that is more likely to get a response from God.

Finally remember that it is not important to run through this like a ritual, but it is recommended that prayer become as natural a part of the day as possible.  These prayers need not be on your knees but can occur when driving to work, while doing housework, listening to boring lectures, even, dare I say it, when listening to some sermons!  Just pray, and pray and pray.  In fact, Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians put it quite simply when he said…

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1Thess 5:17 constantly pray

Dan Dempsey

31 May 2013

© Streams of Water Ministries

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