by Pastor Paul Dugan
For centuries, Christians around the world have been using the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) to build a life of prayer. There are so many things that seem to divide believers and churches. This prayer is one thing that unites the whole church, regardless of race, culture, tradition, denomination, or worship style. The whole church is included in the “OUR” of “Our Father...” When we pray this prayer, we are not alone!
The Lord’s Prayer is actually six prayers- “The Lord’s Prayers”:
The Father’s praise: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name,
The Father’s purpose: Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
The Father’s provision: Give us today our daily bread.
The Father’s pardon and reconciliation: And forgive us our sins, as we also have forgiven those who sin against us.
The Father’s protection: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
The Father’s promise: For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
When we pray these prayers, we are praying the heart of Jesus. His entire ministry is essentially an answer to these six petitions. His life, ministry, suffering, death, and his resurrection have brought the kingdom- on earth, as it is in heaven. And he longs that your life and mine would be a living answer to these prayers. Wherever the Lord’s Prayers are answered, people experience renewal, restoration, and the blessings of life in the kingdom of God.
Jesus did not give the church these prayers as a script to be mindlessly repeated by rote. Rather, they form a trellis. I believe Jesus intended that we take these six petitions and grow a whole life of prayer on them, as a vine grows on the structure of a trellis, or as a jazz artist creates improvisational music on the structure of a chord progression.
Today we focus on the Father’s provision, building on this third petition: Our Father in heaven, …give us today our daily bread.
I invite you to pause right now, find a quiet place, and practice putting this prayer into your own words. For example,
“Father, thank you for sustaining our bodies with…”
“Please provide today’s _____ for…”
Connecting the Lord’s Prayer and the Psalms: Jesus built his own prayers on the Hebrew psalms, Israel’s ancient book of prayer. These include many psalms of creation, celebrating the Lord’s provision. Here are a few (click on psalm for a link to a guide): Psalm 104; Psalm 8; Psalm 24; Psalm 29; Psalm 65; Psalm 90; Psalm 121; Psalm 139; Psalm 148; Other psalms celebrating creation: 41, 49, 111, 147.
Here is one of my favorite improvisations on the third petition of the Lord’s Prayers:
“Father, do take care of our every physical need so we come to know that you are the source of everything good, and neither our work and worry nor your gifts can do us any good apart from your blessing. So help us to give up our trust in creatures and put our trust in you alone.” (*based on the Heidelberg Catechism).
For a guide to praying the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer, click HERE.
For an excellent book on praying the Lord’s Prayer: Fifty-seven Words that Change the World, by Darrell Johnson.