Prayer is foundational to our relationship with the Father. If we do not spend time talking and living life with our family and friends, we cannot build relationships with them. So, it is the same with the most important relationship we will ever have. We need to spend time with God, talking with Him, hearing from Him and including Him in our lives. But often we find prayer difficult, and when we do pray, we find it challenging to be consistent. However, it helps to remind ourselves why we should pray and how easy prayer can be. It is simply talking with our Father with a sincere heart and taking the time to listen to Him.

Old Testament Prayer

The Bible tells us about prayer. In the old testament, Deuteronomy 6, Moses tells the people of Israel that they should fear the Lord by keeping His commandments and statues (Deuteronomy 6:1-3). And that things shall go well with them if they do. It goes on to say the following:

 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

Moses tells them that these words shall be in their hearts, and they should teach them to all generations to come. This becomes an important part of prayer for the Jews for many years to come. They prayed this prayer many times a day. But, what should we be praying many times a day?

New Testament Prayer

This prayer, from the old testament, speaks about loving God as our one true God with everything that we are. This is so powerful and significant. But when Jesus came, he said He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it. Jesus told us that the great commandment is to love God, just as Deuteronomy 6 says but He added another piece. We are to love our neighbours as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). And so, in everything that we do it should be about loving God and loving others. So, when we pray, it should be about God and the people around us.

When Jesus came, He also taught us to pray. In Matthew 6, He tells us that we are to pray in secret and not to pray so that we may be seen (Matthew 6:1-2). And when we pray, do not heap up empty phrases thinking that we need many words to be heard (Matthew 6:7). Then Jesus gives an example of prayer in the Lord’s prayer. He told us to pray like this:

What does this prayer tell us?

Part 1 – Love God

The first half of the prayer is all about God, His kingdom, and His will. This reflects the first part of the great commandment that we should love our God with everything that is in us. And so, this means that we should care deeply for God’s purposes. We should be excited and willing to be His instruments on the earth to do His will.

The first line of the prayer calls on God, acknowledging that He is our Father. He is not just an impersonal God but our dear Father. And it acknowledges that He is in heaven over all of us with power over everything. We acknowledge that He is the powerful almighty in heaven, but He is also our Father. He cares for us and can take care of us. And even when He is in heaven, He is still with us.

We then declare His name to be holy, establishing that He is holy. Hallowed, according to the Strong’s bible dictionary, means holy, pure, consecrated and sanctified. Our God is pure, true and morally blameless, and this reminds us of who He is. He will never treat us unjustly, and all that He does is always for a good reason even when we cannot see it. He is a good God.

We then pray that God’s kingdom come, and His will be done on earth as in heaven. When Jesus came, He said to repent for the kingdom of God is at hand (Matthew 4:17). Ultimately God will rule over everything on earth and in heaven. When we are obedient and do God’s will here on earth, then His kingdom is here with us. But many people still need to accept Christ’s gift of salvation and enter into the Kingdom of God. But this is still an ongoing process and we work with God towards that, and so we need to pray for this.  

We pray that God’s will be done so that He can continue to enable us to operate by His will and not our own. To operate according to the Spirit and not according to our flesh.

Part 2 – Love Our Neighbours

The second half of the prayer focuses on “us”. So, we are told not to pray for ourselves alone but to pray for all those around us. Our neighbours, our friends and our family. This is the second part of the great commandment. That we love our neighbours as ourselves. If we love them, we will want all good for them, and so we should be praying for their needs all the time.

We are told to pray to God for forgiveness because we know that we are not perfect as yet, and therefore we make mistakes. We are reminded that just as we need forgiveness, we need to give forgiveness. Just as we understand that we are sinful natured and will fall and make mistakes, so will our brothers who are not perfect. They will offend us or do us wrong, but we are the same, and we must have compassion and be ready to forgive them also.

“Lead us not into temptation” speaks of the fact that the flesh is weak and so it is easy for us to be tempted. Jesus later tells us to watch and pray that we do not enter into temptation (Matthew 26:41). So, we need God’s help so that we are not lead into temptation. We always need to pray that God delivers us from the evil one. We are inviting God to be a part of everything, protecting us so that we do not do the wrong things to open ourselves up to sin. Invite God to protect us and remember that we pray this for ourselves as well as others around us. Remember those He has assigned us to, meaning all people around us.

This prayer gives us a wonderful template for praying while still not limiting us to prayer being only this. Essentially, we are speaking to our loving, affectionate Father, and the most important thing is that we speak to Him with a true heart, and we listen to His response.

General Template

1. God help us be aligned with you and your will
2. Pray for the needs of others
3. Pray for forgiveness that we can give it and receive God’s
4. Pray for protection from evil.
5. Any other specific issues – speak to our Father
6. Listen to our Father

All photos were taken by Kyle or Vani. These photos are from the many adventures we have been blessed to experience together. We are so grateful for every blessing from God. No filters were used nor were the photos edited except for an occasional crop. We hope you enjoy.