Reading Plan:
Luke 11

When I was growing up in church, I thought that maybe we were supposed to memorize the Lord’s Prayer and repeat it word for word every time we prayed. That belief was further ingrained in me when the Lord’s Prayer was used at the beginning of every sporting event in high school. It took me a long time to understand that the Lord’s Prayer is an example for us of how to pray – not just what to pray. I love that this chapter comes to us in the midst of our "21 Days of Prayer" series. If you’ve been struggling with how to pray, I hope this will help!

The first half of the Lord’s Prayer focuses on God. “Hallowed be your name” is one of those phrases we’ve all heard but maybe haven’t understood exactly what it means. This just lets us know that we should begin our prayers by first recognizing that God is holy and should be greatly honored. “Your kingdom come” simply acknowledges that we want to see God rule in the hearts and lives of all people. This is a time when we must also recognize that God wants to use us to make Him known. This may require a surrendering of our wants and desires in order for His will to be done instead of our own.

The second half of the Lord’s Prayer focuses on us. “Give us each day our daily bread” shows us how we can ask God to meet our physical needs. Notice that it also specifically says daily. That requires a lot of faith to know that God is going to give us exactly what we need for TODAY. This always reminds me of Matthew 6:34 where it tells us, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” This is not easy for me because I’m a planner, and I like to know what is coming! But Jesus’s example of how to pray specifically reminds us to only worry about today.

Next, we see that we are to continually ask forgiveness for not only our own sins but also for the ability to forgive everyone who has sinned against us. Whew, that last part is way harder for me personally! I read one commentary that put it this way: “Asking God’s forgiveness requires forgiving others.” I find it a lot easier to ask forgiveness for myself than to offer forgiveness to others. This is a great reminder that I cannot forgive others through my own power, which is why I should pray and ask God for help. It’s also a reminder that I should forgive just as I have been forgiven.

Finally, the Lord’s Prayer ends with a request to keep us safe from temptation or harm. This is simply a time when we must acknowledge that we are sinners and need God’s help to guide us. I’m reminded of how my grandpa has ended every prayer he’s ever prayed with the request for God to “lead, guard, guide, and direct us”. It used to bother me that he said the exact same thing every time. Now I see the beauty in the recurring request.

I hope that studying through this passage has been a reminder for you, as it has for me, that prayer doesn’t have to be complicated. We are simply having a conversation with God.


Reflection:
What changes do you need to make to begin to grow in your prayer life?
Think of someone who can hold you accountable in prayer.

Have kids?

• Before we can teach our families how to pray, we have to make sure they know what prayer is.
  • Prayer is a conversation with God. God hears our prayers and wants to communicate with us.
• The Bible gives us an example of how to pray. When we pray, we can tell God how great He is; we can ask God for what we need; we can tell God thank you, and we can tell God that we are sorry.
  • Have everyone say one thing they can tell God thank you for today.
• Take turns praying for each other out loud. Maybe you do this before a meal or in the car. Remember prayer is just having a conversation with God.