Using “The Lord’s Prayer” as a Guide

Using “The Lord’s Prayer” as a Guide

by | Jan 31, 2018 | Prayer

The New Testament tells us that one day a disciple asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”  Jesus  replied: “When you pray, say …” and then he proceeded to give what is called “The Lord’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:9–13, and Luke 11:2–4): 

We see that this prayer was probably intended as a model, which could be used as an outline and expanded in our own words,  by the fact that the wording is different in the two gospels in which it occurs – so reciting its exact words is clearly not as important as following its points.  The following guide gives examples of how the Lord’s Prayer can be expanded in our own words for regular formal prayer which effectively covers all aspects of our relationship with God. The scriptures given are examples showing the principles covered in each point of the prayer.

OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN

The first section of the prayer outline establishes our relationship with God as our Father and prepares our mindset for an audience with Him.

• Praise God as Creator of Heaven and Earth and Father of our human family (Genesis 1:1; 1 Corinthians 8:6)

• Thank God for the privilege we have of praying to Him in Heaven  (Psalm 150:1; John 4:23)  

• Thank God for the personal son/daughter relationship we have with Him  (Romans 8:14-16; 1John 3:2) 

HALLOWED [HONORED] BE YOUR NAME

The second section of the prayer outline offers true respect and praise to God – for everything He is and has done – and reminds us to honor His name.

• Praise for what God is – Creator, Ruler, Sustainer, Love, Righteousness, Mercy and Truth  (Psalm 100:3-5; Psalm 145:8-17) 

• Praise for all He has done – His compassion, patience, sacrifice and salvation  (Psalm 146:1-10; John 3:16) 

• Ask God’s help to honor His name, never misuse it, always use it with respect  (Exodus 20:7; Psalm 86:12)

YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

The third section of the prayer outline focuses on the establishment of God’s Kingdom and Will in our lives and eventually throughout the world.

• Pray for help to accept God’s will and that He grow His Kingdom in our lives and the lives of all believers  (Mark 4:30-32; Romans 12:2) 

• Pray for God’s help in bringing His truth to many more people, to continually grow His Kingdom  (Luke 10:2; Matthew 28:19-20) 

• Pray for the eventual full establishment of God’s Kingdom on Earth (Psalms 145:11-13; Revelation 12:10) 

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

The fourth section of the prayer outline gives us opportunity to ask for our physical and spiritual needs – both for ourselves and for others.

• Give thanks, ask for our physical needs and those of other people  (Philippians 4:6; Matthew 7:7-11) 

• Pray for leaders and those helping others that good may be done wherever possible  (Jeremiah 29:7; 1 Timothy 2:1-2) 

• Pray for the  spiritual needs of God’s people and the support and guidance of His Church (Ephesians 6:18; 2 Thessalonians 3:1) 

FORGIVE US OUR SINS AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO SIN AGAINST US

The fifth section of the prayer outline shows that we should ask forgiveness for our sins and the sins of others –as well as for help to forgive others.

• Ask forgiveness for our own sins, and give thanks for the sacrifice of Christ and God’s grace  (Psalm 51:1-2; 1John 1:9) 

• Ask for help in forgiving others fully as God forgives us; to let go of anger and bitterness  (Ephesians 4:31-32; Matthew 6:14-15) 

• Pray for those that sin against us that God be merciful to them as He is to us (Luke 23:34a; Acts 7:60) 

LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

The sixth section of the prayer outline requests God’s help, for ourselves and for others, to avoid unnecessary trials and overcome things that  tempt us to sin.

• Ask for help in overcoming temptations and sins identified in our own lives (Luke 22:40;  Hebrews 2:18) 

• Ask for help for all those fighting weaknesses, addictions, sins (Hebrews 4:16; 1 Corinthians 10:13) 

• Pray that those who have escaped sin will have the strength not to return to it (2 Peter 2:20; Galatians 6:1)

DELIVER US FROM EVIL

The seventh section of the prayer outline asks for protection from physical and spiritual evil, and for all fighting against evil or held in its sway.

• Pray for physical and spiritual protection for all who look to God for help, especially in persecution (2 Samuel 22:3-4; John 17:15-17; ) 

• Pray for  all who are working to suppress evils that are harming people (Hebrews 13:17; Romans 13:3)  

• Ask that the eyes of those persecuting the people of God be opened (Matthew 5:44; Ephesians 1:18) 

 [FOR YOURS IS THE KINGDOM, THE POWER AND THE GLORY, FOR EVER. AMEN] 

 The final words of the Lord’s Prayer appearing in some translations were not in the earliest Bible manuscripts, but they reflect Christian traditions which remind us to:                                                                   

• End prayer as we began, with praise and thanks (Psalm 9:1-2; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) 

• Ask all In Jesus’ name (John 14:6-14; John 16:23-24)

• End with Amen!  – “Amen” means “May it be so!” – (Psalm 89:52; Revelation 7:12) 

* See also our article “Another Look at the Lord’s Prayer” for more information on using the Lord’s Prayer effectively. 

In a Hurry to be Patient: A Personal Confession

In a Hurry to be Patient: A Personal Confession

by | Jan 30, 2018 | Character, Tactical Notes

Is patience a gene?  I have always been impatient.  Overcoming this failing is part of my personal climb. I have read the biblical verses relating to this subject many times over and some have been helpful, but trying to be patient when you’re feeling impatient is a bit like trying to be well when you are feeling sick. It’s a nice try, but it usually doesn’t go far, and I know I still have a ways to go.
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Patience is a fruit of the Spirit of God, of course, but that doesn’t mean that God makes us instantly patient if we ask for his help with it. As someone wryly observed, if you ask God for patience, don’t expect a quick reply. But seriously, we have to develop patience with the help we are given.  That’s why I was particularly happy with something I was reading in the Book of Ephesians recently.  As I read in the New International Version, I saw something I hadn’t noticed before. Paul writes:

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4: 1-2).

Now I just happened to look at these verses again in the King James version and noticed something different in the last part of the verse:  “…with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.”  

The difference is small, but it triggered a thought in my mind:  The semicolon used in the NIV directly before “be patient” makes it look like there are two separate thoughts (being humble and gentle on the one hand and patient and bearing with people on the other), whereas the series of commas in the KJV looks more like a continuous, connected thought.  The original Greek of the New Testament doesn’t have punctuation, of course; but as I looked at it, it seemed to me that the sense of the verse really is one continuous subject and thought – with humility, gentleness, and patience seeming to be grouped together as related qualities.

Then when I looked at what Paul says in Colossians 3:12-13, I saw the same pattern: “… clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another…”  Here we have compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience grouped together – the same qualities we see in Ephesians 4 with a couple more added.

What struck me about these verses is that the qualities Paul is talking about can indeed be interrelated, and this has a practical application which I found I was able to put into action. Instead of thinking about patience as an abstract goal when I’m feeling impatient with someone, I found that if I work on one of the more concrete qualities in the group Paul brings together, it helps with the impatience at the same time. 
For example, thinking about and working on being humble when I’m feeling impatient really makes a difference. 

After all, when I remind myself I’m not the center of the universe, what does it matter that someone is late to meet with me?  If I think about what it means to be compassionate, I can better empathize with the overwhelmed driver in front of me who is holding up all the traffic, and so on.  If I focus on the other qualities on Paul’s list, I don’t even have to think about patience directly in order to better apply it.

Anyway, I think this small tactic is helping me grow in this area. Perhaps not as quickly as I would like, but I have to be patient.

* We now have a Free e-book on patience: Why Every Christian Needs More Patience – download your free copy here.

Get More Out of Your Bible Study … Try a New Translation

Get More Out of Your Bible Study … Try a New Translation

by | Jan 18, 2018 | Bible Study, Tactical Notes

An irony of faithful regular Bible study is that the more you read it, the more familiar the Bible becomes – and sometimes we may feel we are just not seeing as much as we did when we first, excitedly, came to the word of God.   Now clearly, our major responsibility in this is faithful prayer along with the study – prayer to see and understand more each time we continue our journey in the book. We also need to study with a purpose – not just to be reminded of things we know, or to see something new, but to  learn more of the mind of God, and to learn how we might take on that mind in the small things of which everyday  life is composed.

But there is something else we can do to keep our interest level high and to be rewarded with new understanding.  Get a new translation.  Many of us stay with the same old translation simply because we like to stay with the same physical Bible.  It’s “the Bible” to us, it’s comfortable and may have  our markings and notes built up through years of reading.  But we don’t have to end our relationship with that Bible in order to try a new translation.

I have my own favorite translation and it is the one to which I most frequently turn, but when I feel that I am not seeing anything beyond what I saw the last time I read a biblical book or pondered a single chapter or verse, I turn to another translation.  It’s not that my regular version is not accurate enough, but that I want to hear the words with different stresses, from a different perspective as it were.  Just recently I did this with the Book of Job.  Rereading Job in a different translation opened up dozens of new insights for me.  The words themselves were not necessarily so different from the translation I usually use, but time and again seeing the same verses from a different perspective helped me to see things I had read over earlier.

But I’m not talking about comparing lines or verses in different translations.  That is fine for detailed study of exactly which words are “best” in translating a given verse.  I’m talking about just taking a different version and immersing yourself in it – getting used to its speech patterns and style in the same way you would if you were listening to a new friend speak. 

The great thing is just how simple it is to try another translation. If you like reading on a screen, many Bible versions are available online on various Bible websites (see our article “Five Bible Study Sites Compared”) and many Bible versions can now be obtained free for reading on the Kindle or with the Kindle for PC application or other e-reader.  So, if you sometimes feel that Bible study is not as exciting for you as it was, or if you would just like to maximize what you see in a given study session,  give yourself a lift – try a new translation.

(if you need help selecting a new translation, see the article “Choosing a Bible Translation” on this site.)