When Jesus disciples came to Him and said "Lord, teach us to pray," Jesus said, "Pray in this manner." "The Lord's Prayer" is an example to us as to how the Lord would desire us to pray. All too often, in public life and movies, this prayer is used as sort of a cursory exercise in appeasement. It is no accident that the words to this timeless prayer of Jesus have been trivialized. For this reason, it is to our benefit to take a closer look at the example Jesus gave when the disciples asked Him how to pray.

For the sake of clarity, I have chosen to use The Living Bible translation. The meaning is the same, but it is more in keeping with the way people talk now. It's important that when we talk with the Lord, that we speak to Him as we would our Father, and our Friend. If we walk in fellowship with Him, that is what He is, and much more!

Before getting into the prayer itself, Jesus did begin with some instructions.

“And now about prayer. When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who pretend piety by praying publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. Truly, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, all alone, and shut the door behind you and pray to your Father secretly, and your Father, who knows your secrets, will reward you.

“Don’t recite the same prayer over and over as the heathen do, who think prayers are answered only by repeating them again and again. Remember, your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!"

Think of what was done at Calvary, and of the empty tomb, and thank God you can call Him "Father", because of the blood of Jesus and what He did for us. Consider the truth that the Father poured Himself out, so that we could be brought into a right relationship with Him. If not for the compassion that the Lord has on His creation, we would all be doomed. But we are His children, He is our Father, and He loves us. Hallelujah!

Hallow the names of God. There is awesome benefit in hallowing and worshipping the Lord. When we exalt the "Biblical names, titles, and attributes of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit", it is then that we can really know the presence of the Lord in our prayer. Let's face it, prayer is worship. We know that the Lord lives and dwells in places where His name is being lifted up. The more we know of Him, the more we can try to fathom the unsearchable riches of God. The more we know, the more we find there is to know, "For His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts."

There is great healing potential here for the frustrated prayer warrior who can't seem to get past the five minute hurdle. Simply worship! Hallow the names of the Lord! Nobody else needs to know about it either. See what happens to that quiet prayer time when we focus on exalting and hallowing the Lord Most High!

In addition to the link to the names of God listed above, the graph below offers an additional resource. These are the Jehovah names of God. Here are a couple of examples that may prove helpful.

"Lord I thank you that you are my Jehovah M'Kaddesh, my Sanctifier. I thank you that you have rescued me from my sins, and set me apart. I thank you that you rescued me from the pit of my own sins, and lifted me up and planted my feet on the Rock, which is Jesus my Savior. Lord I thank you that you are my Jehovah Jireh, my provider. You know my needs, and I don't have to worry about that, because you care for Your own, and I am your child. Lord I thank you and praise you the you are my Jehovah Shalom, my peace. This world is full of hatred and fear and all kinds of evil, but I don't have to worry about where my peace is, because you are the Lord Most High and I am traveling with You today."

WE ASK THAT YOUR KINGDOM WOULD COME NOW. MAY YOUR WILL BE DONE HERE ON EARTH, JUST AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.

Pray for yourself (it's okay, He already knows) that His perfect will would be done in the lives of your family, your church, including your pastor, the leadership, that the people would be faithful to the Lord, and work in love. Pray for the harvest, that laborers would be sent. Pray that his kingdom would come and His would would be done in your nation. Pray for the political leadership, that God would raise up faithful spiritual leaders, and the the unfruitful works of the enemy would be cast down. Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!

GIVE US OUR FOOD TODAY, AS USUAL,

The Lord takes care of us. That's a fact. It's okay to praise Him again here for being our Jehovah Jireh. The Psalmist, King David said, "I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or His seed begging bread." Truth told, this is a good time to do some reflecting on personal habits, and see if the Spirit might be talking to us. The Lord provides, but we need to be good stewards as well. The provision we are looking for may already be there, if we were doing a little better job taking care of business. No condemnation intended here, just a little food for thought.

AND FORGIVE US OUR SINS, JUST AS WE HAVE FORGIVEN THOSE WHO HAVE SINNED AGAINST US.

Ask God to forgive you, forgive and release others from your own unforgiveness. "Forgiveness" is the key relational issue of the Bible. We all need forgiveness. If you study this text carefully, you'll find that later Jesus came back to elaborate on the issue of forgiveness. Often, and I speak from experience, it takes an act of God to bring us to the point where we can be freed from the crippling chains of our own inability to forgiveness ourselves. So don't be afraid to ask God to help us to forgive ourselves and others, and to forgive us for not accepting His forgiveness. He wants to heal us. It may be that the Lord has brought you to a point of forgiving before, many times. Some of us, (and yes, I include myself here) need to get some backbone and take a stand, and set our will to forgive those who have sinned against us.

DON'T BRING US INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE

Jesus came to destroy the works of the Devil. He is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh, and at the same time the enemy is pouring out darkness. We are surrounded by spiritual battles all the time. There is no escaping it. So while we ask the Lord to keep temptation away from us, and deliverance from the unfruitful works of darkness, its a good idea to go ahead and put the armor on! Do this daily, and see how the Lord works in your life, and mine!

Put on the whole armor of God (put on the Lord Jesus Christ)

Loins gird about with TRUTH

Breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS

Feet shod with the PREPARATION (readiness) of the gospel of peace

Shield of FAITH

Helmet of SALVATION

Sword of the spirit, which is the WORD OF GOD

Thank God that He has set His love upon us. 

Thank God that He knows our names.

FOR YOURS IS THE KINGDOM, AND THE POWER, AND THE GLORY FOREVER. AMEN!

Now here we are again, back to exaltation and worship. I've lost a couple of hours here, I don't know about you. Or have I lost anything at all? I think not. Blessing and Glory and Honor and Power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. Hallelujah to the Lord Most High!