 Jesus gave us instructions on how to pray. Matthew chapter six, beginning at verse nine. After this manner therefore pray, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. Now, this is what's commonly referred to as the Lord's prayer. It's important to note that the Lord here is not giving us a script that we have to repeat again and again. Rather, he is giving us principles that we ought to apply to prayer. Remember, Jesus said that we shouldn't babble when we pray. There should be sincerity when we pray. So let's take a look at this prayer and let's break it down and let's find biblical truths that we can apply to our own prayer lives. Notice that the Lord begins by saying our Father. So number one, you must recognize your identity. If God is my Father, then I am his child. My identity is based in who I am in him. By referring to God as our Father, we're recognizing who we are in him. You shouldn't begin prayer by saying, God, please hear me. God, if you don't mind. God, if I can just approach please just for a second. The scripture says in Hebrews 4, 16, so let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Now, this is a big one because this is where many believers get stuck. They beg God, they plead with God, they wonder if God hears them. But when you come before the throne of God, you must recognize that you are his child and therefore you can come boldly to your heavenly Father. Imagine how much time you could save in prayer. If instead of begging God to hear you, you simply believe that he already does. God is your Father. So prayer begins by recognizing your identity. Jesus didn't say, God, please hear me. God, are you there? God, are you watching me? He began with boldness, with confidence, our Father. Next we see which art in heaven. This is to recognize your citizenship, where you belong. My citizenship is linked with my identity. Because my Father is God and he is in heaven, then my citizenship is also in heaven. Philippians 3.20 says, but we are citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives and we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our savior. Therefore, I don't pray to connect with God. I pray from connection with God. It's from that place of authority. It's from that place of heavenly citizenship that we pray. So our Father, recognize your identity. Which art in heaven, recognize your citizenship. Hallowed be thy name, this is worship. Psalm 100 verse four, enter his gates with thanksgiving. Go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. When I worship the Lord, I'm giving to him my attention, my affection, my all. When I worship Jesus, everything else begins to fade into the background and he becomes my focus. The things of earth become strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. When I worship him, it positions me to be focused on him. We're distracted by so many things in this world, our responsibilities, our worries, our cares, our thoughts. Everything in this world can be a distraction when we pray. So to focus your mind on him, you must worship him. Why? Because worship is all about him. When I'm worshiping him, I'm focused on him. I'm looking at his face in the spirit. And that worship takes me into an awareness of his presence. Next we see thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. This is surrender. This is about causing the earth to respond to the will of God. Romans 8, 26 and 27 say, and the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying. For the Spirit, watch this now, pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. How does the kingdom of God come? How is the will of God established? It's through your obedience. So when you pray, it's yielding. Prayer is less about receiving, more about becoming. When you begin to walk in obedience through the means of prayer, when you begin to allow prayer to incline your heart toward God's word, to bend you toward his will, then you become the walking will of God in the earth. You become God's means of establishing the culture of heaven in this world. Prayer is the submission of self to heaven's agenda. Prayer causes me to become the will of God in the earth. The power of God comes when I am living according to the standards of God's will and word. When I say thy kingdom come, as I will be done in earth as it is in heaven, I'm submitting myself to be that one that causes the will of God to manifest in this earth. And I'm also praying, I'm also calling upon creation to submit itself to God's will. It's by prayer that we pool all of the wandering, broken pieces of creation into the will of God. Next we see, give us this day our daily bread. This is the prayer request. Matthew 7, 7, ask, seek, knock. Philippians 4, 6 and 7 says, don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. There's nothing wrong with asking your heavenly father to meet your needs. There's nothing wrong with presenting your requests to God. God wants to meet your needs. God wants you to ask of him. God wants to provide. Don't believe religious teachers who tell you that it's immature or it's wrong or it's selfish or it's doubtful to ask God to provide. You can approach your heavenly father. Remember who you are. Remember your citizenship. Remember that you belong to him. He welcomes our prayer requests. We just need to trust him. It's okay to approach God and ask him to meet your needs. So the prayer request is most certainly a legitimate spiritual part of prayer. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. This is forgiveness. Matthew 5, 23 and 24 says this. So if you are presenting at the altar in the temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar, go and be reconciled to that person, then come and offer your sacrifice to God. Mark 11, 25 says, but when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against. Why? So that your father in heaven will forgive your sins too. God will not hear your prayers if you are holding unforgiveness in your heart. The Bible makes it very clear. Unforgiveness stops the flow of prayer. Forgiveness is like a river. If I'm receiving forgiveness from God, but I'm not releasing that same divine forgiveness, then the waters become stagnant. If I'm releasing forgiveness to others, but I myself am not receiving forgiveness of God, then I will become empty. But when I both receive the forgiveness of God and release the forgiveness of God, I become that refreshing river of forgiveness. Forgiveness helps your prayer life. Unforgiveness stops the flow of prayer. And lead us not into temptation. 1 Corinthians 9, 27 says, I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise I fear that after preaching to others, I myself might be disqualified. Romans 8, 11 and 12, the spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same spirit living within you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. And lead us not into temptation is the subjecting of the flesh. Isn't it interesting that you can volunteer for ministry and you have no problem? Isn't it interesting that you can hear the word preached and you have no problem? You can sing and you can dance and you can participate in the worship service. But the moment you begin to pray, you start to squirm, your flesh starts to fight you. Why? Because prayer is the death of the flesh. It is in prayer that the flesh grows weak. It is in prayer that you cause the flesh to submit to the will of God. Here's the thing, you can't cast you out of you. The flesh doesn't come and go. The flesh shrinks and grows. It grows when we do not pray. It becomes stronger when we do not pray. But the flesh shrinks and becomes weaker when we do pray. So lead us not into temptation is the subjecting of the flesh. It's the weakening of the flesh. It's submitting your flesh to God's will, to the spirit that you might not fulfill the desires of the flesh. Prayer is a means of weakening the carnal nature. But deliver us from evil. Other translations like the new living translations say, but deliver us from the evil one. This is spiritual warfare. James 4, 7 to 8 says, So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come close to God and he will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Before you can resist the devil, you must humble yourself before God. Remember this, spiritual warfare is simply the fight to believe God's truth over the enemy's lies. And so in spiritual warfare, we submit ourselves to God, we humble ourselves to God, we draw close to God and the enemy flees from us. Demons cannot swim in the depths of God and prayer keeps you in the depths. Spiritual warfare is an important aspect of prayer. And finally we see, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Amen. This is worship. This is how important worship is. Toward the beginning, we see worship. And in closing, we see worship. Worship should permeate your prayer life. A great man of God once told me, if you have an hour to pray, worship for 45 minutes out of that hour. That's how powerful it is. When all else fails, worship the Lord. So let's recap here. Our Father, that's to recognize your identity. Which art in heaven, that's to recognize citizenship. Hallowed be thy name, that's worship. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven, that is surrender. Give us this day our daily bread, that's the prayer request. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, that's forgiveness. And lead us not into temptation, that's the subjecting of the flesh, but deliver us from the evil one, that's spiritual warfare. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, amen. And that also is worship. Father, I pray that you would help us to apply these truths to our lives. Teach us, Lord, truly to pray. Holy spirit, remind us of these things. Draw us closer than ever before. We long to know the depths of your presence. Help us find those depths through prayer. In the name of Jesus we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it, say amen. Here now is a question for conversation. Which key to prayer did you find most helpful and why? Tell me about it in the comment section and if you haven't done so yet, make sure to subscribe to Encounter TV and click that notification bell when you do subscribe so that you can receive notices when we release new content. You can also follow us wherever you're watching us. I wanna read a portion of scripture to you that comes from Proverbs chapter 11 verse 28. Trust in your money and down you go. But the godly flourish like leaves in spring, why did the godly flourish? The godly flourish because they trust in the Lord. If you trust in the systems of this world, if you trust in the economy, then down you will go. But when you trust in the Lord to provide for your needs, that's when you flourish. How do you demonstrate that trust? You demonstrate that trust by faith through giving to the gospel. So I wanna challenge you to step out in faith to show that you trust the Lord by giving to his work. You know, when you give to this ministry, you're not really giving to this ministry. You're giving through this ministry to the Lord. 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