Have you ever wondered if you are praying for the right things? What if we are actually praying for things that will hurt us? What if there is something we should be praying for that we don’t know about? What if we or someone we love is missing out on God’s blessings simply because we don’t know how to pray?
First of all, know that God is good and gracious. And he is certainly allowed to do good and gracious things, even when we don’t pray for them. If God were to give us only the things we specifically ask for, we would have very little. Consider the breath in your lungs. It is a gift from God. But how often do you remember to pray for it? If you are like me, not very often. But God continues to give it to us every second of every day. And God gives us many other good things, despite our lack of prayer. The world will not fall apart if we forget to pray or accidentally pray wrongly.
Nevertheless, we ought to know how to pray. And the best way to be sure we are praying rightly is to pray the way Jesus teaches us to pray. I’m talking about what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.” Twice in the gospels Jesus teaches his disciples this prayer.
The first is in “The Sermon on the Mount” (Matt. 6:9-13). There Jesus condemns the hypocrites who pray to be seen by other men or who think God will hear them because their prayers are really, really long. Jesus says, “Don’t be like them.” Then he says, “Pray like this,” and he teaches the crowd The Lord’s Prayer. It is a simple prayer with seven short petitions, covering everything we need to pray for in a thorough and efficient manner (I timed myself, and it took 26.4 seconds).
The second place Jesus teaches this prayer is in Luke 11:2-4. This is a private conversation between Jesus and his disciples. They ask Jesus to teach them to pray, and he says, “When you pray, say …” And then he teaches them The Lord’s Prayer again. He doesn’t even say, “Pray like this.” It is simply, “Say this.” The Lord’s Prayer is not simply a model for us to follow; it is the actual prayer Jesus commands us to pray. It is simple, easy, packed with meaning, and given to us by Jesus himself.
This is part of the reason why we use it in worship. And have you ever noticed that it’s not individualistic? You can’t pray it just for yourself. It is always for the entire Church. We always pray, “Our Father … give us … forgive us … lead us … deliver us …” So it is perfectly suited for corporate use. And even when we use it in our private prayers, we are always praying for the entire Church. It covers everything Jesus intends us to pray for ourselves and for our fellow Christians.
And finally, it is packed with meaning. If you ever start to think The Lord’s Prayer is just meaningless repetition, I would encourage you to memorize Martin Luther’s Small Catechism and meditate on what each petition means. Luther does a marvelous job explaining the broad meaning of the prayer. For now I’ll leave you with what he says concerning the first and last words. Concerning the words, “Our Father,” he says,
“God thereby tenderly encourages us to believe that He is truly our Father and that we are truly His children, so that we may boldly and confidently come to Him in prayer, even as beloved children come to their dear father.”
When we pray, we should think of God as our loving, gracious, and all-powerful Father, because that is who he is.
And concerning the word, “amen,” Luther says,
“It means that I should be assured that these petitions are acceptable to our heavenly Father and are heard by Him; for He Himself has commanded us to pray in this manner and has promised to hear us. Amen, amen, that is, yes, yes, it shall be so.”
If God has given us this prayer and commanded us to pray it, we can be confident that we pray rightly whenever we use it, and that God will hear and answer.
The peace of Christ be with you all,
Dan