Jesus gave us “The Lord’s Prayer,” as it has been called, not simply to pray as a standalone prayer, but as a pattern for prayer.
It is a great pattern to use when praying for yourself, your children, grandchildren and all your descendants. I use this pattern almost every day to pray for my family.
Here’s the Lord’s prayer in Matthew:
Pray then like this:
“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 also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. MT 6.9-13
Here is how I incorporate this prayer when praying for my family. I really like this pattern because it keeps me focused. And I can pray through the various sections in a short time.
The Lord’s Prayer Is About His Glory
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name. (9)
Before we begin asking God for things for ourselves it is so wonderful and important to focus on his glory and holiness. “Hallowed be thy name.” Or, “Holy be your name.” This is where praying the Lord’s prayer reorients us. It moves our gaze away from ourselves and up to the living God.
Take a few moments to worship Him: It can be something as simple as, “Father, I praise you, for you are holy and good and loving. I praise you for your steadfast love and your mercies that are new every morning.”
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Psalm 100:4 says:
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
So before I begin to ask God to bless me and my family, I usually try to begin by giving thanks to him. Most days I take a few minutes to write 1 page in a Moleskine journal to the Lord of things I’m thankful for.
Focusing on God’s holiness reminds us of whom we are approaching – the infinitely glorious One.
And beginning with thanks helps us not forget all the ways he has blessed us already, before we ask him to bless us again. It also strengthens our faith in how generous and gracious our heavenly Father is.
The Lord’s Prayer Is About His Kingdom
Next Jesus tells us to pray:
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. (10)
Before we pray for our interests, we should pray for God’s interests. God’s kingdom is his rule. So I pray that the Lord would bring his rule into the world. That he would save multitudes in every nation, and our nation. I pray that he would raise up laborers to go into all the nations and proclaim the gospel, and I pray that his kingdom would come in my town as well.
The Lord’s prayer reminds me to pray that many people in my city would come to know Christ.
Then I pray he would bring his rule into the lives of my family – me, Kristi and my children, every one of our grandchildren, and every single descendant until Jesus returns.
I pray that he would save every one who is not yet saved, and that each and every one of us would follow Jesus wholeheartedly as disciples as long as we live. That Jesus would be the king of our whole family.
The Lord’s Prayer Is About Daily Provision
Give us this day our daily bread, (11)
I’m so grateful that God cares about the little details of our lives. He cares about whether we have enough food and whether the bills get paid. The Lord’s prayer is a reminder to me that even though God is high and exalted, he is also intimately involved in the little details of our lives.
I ask our heavenly Father to bless and provide for me and Kristi, and each one of our children and their families. I ask him to provide for every need that we have – physical, spiritual, and emotional, knowing that he loves to give good gifts to his children.
We can have faith that God loves to answer prayers for provision. James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
The Lord’s Prayer Is About Forgiveness
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors. (12)
The Greek word for “debt” means: “a debt, offense, sin.” (Thayer’s Greek lexicon). By “debts” Jesus meant “tresspasses,” for 2 verses later he says:
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (14-15).
But didn’t Jesus pay for all our sins on the cross? Yes, but we should still ask God’s forgiveness whenever we sin. As he says in 1 John 2:1:
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
And in 1 John 1:8-9
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We’re praying for forgiveness in the same way a child asks forgiveness of his father. When a child sins, he isn’t kicked out of the family and the father doesn’t stop loving the child. However, the relationship between the father and the child is disrupted by the sin. When the child asks forgiveness, the relationship is restored.
So the Lord’s prayer guides me to pray something along these lines:
“Father please forgive me and Kristi our tresspasses. And please forgive each of our children and grandchildren for their sins. Thank you for paying for all my sins on the cross, which allows you to forgive all my sins.”
Even when we aren’t aware of any sins, we all fail in numerous ways all the time. We may not have actively committed sins; but we all fail to perfectly obey him every day. We should ask God to forgive our children who are saved, but especially those who Jesus has yet to save.
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Great Post.
Thank you for your message. I always can apply your postings to my worship needs. Thank you.
thanks for teaching
Thanks very much Pastor, I am always blest to read your posting
I appreciate your writeup and how you touch life of people all over the world thank you so much and God will renew your anointing in Jesus Christ name
Thank you Pastor your always strengthen me when I feel down. Today your post made me stronger.
Wow pastor God bless you this wonderful. Every encouraging.
Thanks for elaborating on the pattern of Thanksgiving, Praise and Prayer as contained in The Bible.I also follow a similar pattern. Thanks once again. All Thanksgiving, Praise,Honor and Dominion be our LORD’S forevermore.
This is great and easy to understand teaching. God bless you Pastor
I have found this site veey helpful. I pray the LORD GOD Almighty remains your strength, wisdom and support. Moreso, i pray HE soak your heart and mind in the Word like never before in JESUS Name I am a first timer on your site and i really found it enlightening than i initially imagined.
Remain blessed in JESUS Name
help me how can
i read to bible every day.
I am so blessed and will copy this on my sermon.
Pastor Mark, greetings from Scotland. Thank you for sharing this teaching with the world. Prayer can often seem difficult and many churches enforce that view with shaming people into thinking they aren’t praying properly. Yet scripture tells us this simple prayer. Jesus demonstrated it in the garden of Gethsemane. Thank you for sharing your wisdom of how this one powerful prayer applies to all areas of our lives. I hope and pray that the simplicity of your message reaches the whole world.