Lesson 14: Praying Like Jesus

“I pray best when I see what God wants to do.”

To learn from the Lord’s Prayer the importance of praying for God’s will to be done.

► If you were preparing to present a request to someone in authority, what would be some good things to know ahead of time?

It would help to know what he cares about. It would help to know what his goals are.

Jesus has given us this information about his Father. He has given it in the form of a model prayer. If we know what God wants to do, we can pray according to his will and know that he will answer.

The prayer that we call the “Lord’s Prayer” was given in response to the disciples’ request, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

This prayer contains Jesus’ first instructions to them about prayer, so in a school of prayer it would be kindergarten level. That does not mean there ever comes a time when the principles taught in this prayer become insignificant to us. In mathematics, for example, the simple addition learned in kindergarten never becomes unimportant even in algebra, calculus, or geometry. A person who forgets the elementary principles of math cannot do the higher math. Likewise, if a person is ignorant of the principles that are the kindergarten of prayer, he cannot pray well.

It is good for us to pray these words occasionally, as Jesus said to, and all of our praying should be consistent with the principles he taught in this model.

Jesus did not start his lesson on prayer by promising that God would give them everything they ask. If a person does not know what kind of things to pray for, he will be disappointed. Don’t tell a person that he can get whatever he wants by praying. In other scripture passages, Jesus did make some great promises about answers to prayer, but a person who prays needs to understand what God wants to do.

Let’s look at Matthew 6:9-13.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on 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 yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever.

Amen

Many applications could be drawn from the Lord’s Prayer, but one principle stands out: We are to pray with God’s perspective, values, and purposes in mind.

The prayer has a threefold pattern. There are three sections, and each of them has three parts.

The first trio of requests is (1) that God’s name be hallowed, (2) that God’s kingdom come, and (3) that God’s will be done. These requests are quite different from the ones that usually fill our prayer time. They show what it means to pray from the perspective of heaven.

The Lord’s Prayer can be prayed in thirty seconds, but we never have enough time to pray all that is implied there.

To pray that God’s name be hallowed, or reverenced, implies first that we want to reverence him ourselves. We should want everything in our lives and hearts to be what can glorify God; otherwise, it does not make much sense to pray that his name be reverenced. We can also pray for those around us, that they would reverence God, which would mean that sinners would repent and lives would be transformed to glorify God. It is praying that those who live carelessly, as if there were no God, would begin to live with the regard for God that they should have.

To pray for God’s kingdom to come is to pray for his authority to be extended in the hearts of men. In a sense, God’s kingdom is the universe, and he is sovereign over all. Yet there are many within this kingdom who are in rebellion against God’s authority. God’s kingdom is extended every time a rebel surrenders to God. It would be ironic for a person to pray this prayer while intending to disobey God. We should first pray for his kingdom to come completely in our own hearts, then that it be extended by the surrender of those who oppose God.

To pray that God’s will be done here as it is in heaven is similar to praying for his kingdom to come. A person could not pray this with sincerity while he does not intend to obey God completely himself. It would hardly make sense to pray for God’s will, as if it is a good thing, while one’s own heart has not accepted God’s will. To pray this sincerely would be to start by praying for a holy heart.

The believer with a holy heart should be able to pray for the reverence of God, the coming of his kingdom, and the fulfillment of his will as if nothing better could happen than for the world to be exactly what God wants it to be. That is praying from the perspective of heaven.

Do you really believe that God’s will is the best thing that could be done in the world, in the place where you live and work, in your home, and in your heart?

The next three requests are for personal needs. They are the prayer for daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil.

The request for daily bread could be expanded to include any basic needs. The fact that we are to pray for daily needs shows that God wants us to continually depend on him, rather than on resources we have accumulated. It is difficult for many people to really depend on God if they have what they think they need.

The prayer for forgiveness admits that we fall short of the perfect will of God and need his daily grace.

Then comes a request that God protect us from harm from Satan, both spiritual and physical.

The prayer ends with the threefold reason for praying this way. The kingdom, power, and glory all belong to God. We want everything to serve its created purpose in God’s kingdom. We know that only God’s power can accomplish what we pray for. The glory of the kingdom and its victory all belong to God.

We want every aspect of our lives and ministries to be according to God’s will, enabled by God, and glorifying to God. We pray for that and submit to that purpose.

This is a kindergarten lesson in the school of prayer. It provides the basis of all of our praying which we must never forget.

The principle of praying like Jesus is this: Prayer causes us to see everything from God’s perspective, so we can ask for what is good in God’s eyes.

Share about our tendency to pray from our own perspective; that is, to pray for what seems to be good for us.

The prayer for God’s will and kingdom should lead to deep heart searching, as one considers whether he really wants God’s will to be done completely in his own life and whether or not he is willing to completely do God’s will.

► Do you really believe that God’s will is the best thing that could be done in the world, in the place where you live and work, in your home, and in your heart?

Members may realize a need to pray for changes in their own hearts so they can truly pray with heaven’s perspective.

Our Heavenly Father,

We pray that your name would be honored; that your kingdom would be extended; that those who resist you would surrender to you.

We pray that your will would be done completely in our world, in the place where we live, and in our hearts.

Provide day by day what we need.

Forgive us for falling short of your perfect will, and help us to forgive those who fail us.

Protect us from falling to temptations, and protect us from anything that the evil one would bring against us.

Because it is your kingdom; it is your power; and it is your glory forever.

Amen

Write out the Lord’s Prayer, leaving space under each line. Go through the prayer and list under each request the specific requests that you could be praying for in order to apply the Lord’s Prayer personally.