Luke 11:1 - 4 The Lord's Prayer

In Luke 11, the disciples asked Jesus to show them how to pray.  Jesus gave to them and to us the words which we identify as “The Lord’s Prayer”.  It is used in Church and in personal worship.  As we look at the words we find an outline of the way we should pray.

When we speak to God in prayer, Jesus teaches us to include expressions of our Adoration, Confessions, Thanksgiving, and Supplications. 

“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name”.                                                                           

Our God is holy.  We adore Him.  We praise Him.  We glorify Him.

 “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”.

We want God to show us His will for our lives.  We believe in Him and in His Kingdom. We want to experience God’s blessings in this present life.

For the believer, God’s Kingdom begins now.

“Give us this day our daily bread”. 

We come to Him in prayer with our needs and requests.  The word bread represents our spiritual needs as well as our physical needs.  He will supply our needs daily according to His riches in glory just as is told to us in Philippians 4:19.

“Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”.

We come to God confessing our sins, asking for His forgiveness, and in turn promising Him that we will forgive anyone who has hurt us and sinned against us.

“Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil”.

We ask for God’s protection in our life. 

We come to Him believing in His promise of protection.

We thank Him for taking care of us and being concerned about every area of our life.

The Lord’s Prayer is familiar and recited often in church services.  We must consciously be aware of not just repeating words.  I want to be attentive to the meaning of every word and sentence.  I pray it in Jesus' precious name.  As I speak the words I think about their meaning.  Prayer releases the power of God’s kingdom in my life.