How Christ-Followers Are to Pray

“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:

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 do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive

you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive

your trespasses.” (Jesus, Matthew 6:7–13)

It is ironic that the prayer given by Jesus in this passage has been used in a rigidly repetitious manner, to the point that many who know the “Lord’s Prayer” have not thoroughly considered what it means. And this is right after Jesus finishes saying not to use “vain” or “empty” repetitions. What Jesus says is that we are to pray “in this manner.” In other words, this prayer provides a pattern for us to follow, not a prayer that we are obligated to repeat word-for-word (though this is not wrong to do provided we mean what we are saying).

The Recipient of Prayer

            First, Jesus shows that we must consider to whom we are praying. He refers to God as “our Father.” The Scripture teaches that all who have faith in Christ have become the children of God, and are given the “Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’” (Romans 8:15b).

            At one time, I worked as an afterschool caregiver for an elementary school children near Boston, MA. The particular community that I worked in had a fairly high Jewish population, and I distinctly remember one of the little Jewish boys running up to his father saying, “Abba! Abba!” This is a term denoting affection and close relationship, and this little boy was so happy to see his father that he could not help crying out with loving joy at the sight of him. The Scripture teaches that we can know God as our Father, even as a Father we are close enough to speak of as “Abba.”  Jesus says that when we approach God in prayer, we are to think in relational terms. We are not praying in some abstract sense, merely voicing our thoughts and wishes into the great unknown. We are speaking to a Person, whom we relate to as our adopted Father.

            Jesus adds, however, that God is “our Father in heaven.” I was taught to pray, “Dear heavenly Father” based on Jesus’ teaching here, but having heard and used this so much, it is easy to forget what this really means. It reveals that we are privileged to pray to the One who is in heaven and is above and in control of all things. The songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman addresses this theme:

The morning finds me
Here at heaven's door,
A place I've been
So many times before.
Familiar thoughts
And phrases start to flow,
And carry me to places that
I know so well.

But dare I go
Where I don't understand?
And do I dare
Remember where I am?
I stand before
The great eternal throne,
The one that God
Himself is seated on.
And I, I've been invited as a son.
Oh I, I've been invited to come and

Believe the unbelievable,
Receive the inconceivable,
And see beyond
My wildest imagination.
Lord, I come with
Great expectations.

Sometimes prayer can be perceived as a boring or superfluous activity, but if we

remembered that we are praying at the “great eternal throne” then we would truly come with wonder, humility, and anticipation, and this is what Jesus desires us to do.

Works Cited:

“Great Expectations” by Steven Curtis Chapman

© 1999 Sparrow Song (a div. of EMI Christian Music Publishing)

Primary Wave Brian (Chapman Sp Acct) (Admin. by Wixen Music Publishing, Inc.)

Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version.  Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.