WHAT IS PRAYER? - THE LORD'S PRAYER

So what are we actually to say when we pray? Many call this the Lord’s prayer, but the Lord’s prayer is actually found in John 17. So Jesus’ model prayer here would be better known as 'the disciple’s prayer'.  Almost anyone in western culture today: whether Protestant, Catholic, atheist or agnostic can quote or at least recognize that this is a prayer found in the Bible and quoted by Jesus:

 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" (Matthew 6:9-13).

 Now notice that Jesus didn't say "pray exactly these words", but "pray like this". Thus, this isn’t a formula, but it does give us a great template for prayer.  

First, in Jesus' prayer, He models for us how to address God rightly, as we exalt Him.

Jesus addresses God as “our Father”. “Father” was Jesus’s favorite way of addressing God. So much so, that Jesus uses this word for God 65x in Matthew, Mark, and Luke (what are called the Synoptic Gospels) and over 100x in the Gospel of John! That’s a big jump over the 15x the term is used for God in the entire Old Testament.

And what word did Jesus use for Father? The Aramaic word for Father, the word, “Abba”. It’s a word that a five year old girl would use (we might say “Daddy”). However, older kids and adults used it as well, so “Daddy” wouldn’t fit as well as 'Father'. It is an intimate term. The Biblical writers include the Aramaic phrase as well as the Greek word “pater” which is Father. This was a distinction that only Jesus could have--a relationship with His heavenly Father that no one would dare to claim. Yet here in this chapter, Jesus teaches His disciples, thus you and I as Christ-followers, that we should address God as “our Father”. According to Justin Holcomb, "This is because through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus on our behalf, we are adopted by God into his family. God becomes our loving Father because we are united with Jesus Christ and receive the same family privileges and blessings that Jesus has as the faithful Son. Because of our adoption into the family of God, we now have complete access to our Father."

Secondly, we petition God humbly, meaning we ask for His kingdom to come and His will to be done in and through our lives. All prayer starts with who God is, not what we need. We start with Him and then get to our needs, like our daily bread. So we are affirming that we look to the Lord to meet our most important and essential needs.

Thirdly, because of His goodness, it is through prayer that we receive mercy constantly. Notice that repentance and confession are a part of this daily prayer. We ask God to save us from evil and temptation. But in context, Jesus is saying that repetition and empty phrases and mantras that have no substance or meaning or reality are not prayers. They’re just words. How funny that Jesus would give such emphasis on not praying a rote prayer and then tell us how to pray--and then the prayer Jesus told us to pray to avoid rote prayer becomes itself a rote prayer! 

Because of the Gospel work of Christ, we can engage in Gospel prayer. Prayer is possible because of the Gospel—the finished work of Christ on our behalf. That means as His adopted sons and daughters, our prayers involve addressing God rightly, petitioning God humbly, and receiving mercy constantly. May we learn how to pray without ceasing, trusting God to work sovereignly on our behalf for His glory and our good!