The Lord's Prayer

"And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one."

Matthew 6:7-13

Other than probably being the most well-known prayer in the world, this passage in general has intrigued me. Not so much the prayer itself, but what Jesus says before it.

Does he want us to only pray that prayer? Does he mean we just need to model our prayers after that?

This is something I've been kinda wrestling with myself, and I thought it would be interesting to see what you guys think about it.

I'm all for prayer. Prayer has a power that we can't understand sometimes. It gives us a direct line of communication with the maker of the universe! What more could we ask for? But sometimes we abuse it, and use our prayer time as a shopping list. We complain about our failures, ask for forgiveness, and roll down the list of people on our prayer lists. Is that how it should be? Is Jesus saying we shouldn't pray for all those people? I don't think so.

I think what he means is that we shouldn't treat this absolutely wonderful opportunity we're given as something else to scratch off the to-do list. When you pray for all those people and go down your list, make sure you mean every wish you're sending upstairs.

And don't think God's not listening to every single syllable you utter in every prayer. Prayer is a serious business, and He treats it as such. Often, he'll try to speak back. Whether it's during your prayer or after, whether you know it or not, whether it's someone walking up to you and saying "Hey, God laid this on my heart, and I need to share it with you," or just some passage that you see on some billboard you pass every day on your way to work. God works and speaks in funny ways, so always, always, always be listening. The key to a good relationship with God is to stay in constant touch with him. Prayer is a great way to do that.

What do you think? Is prayer really meant to be limited to that prayer, or is it just an outline? Or is it not even an outline?

The Bible says in Matthew 6:7, “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” and also in Matthew 15:9 He says, “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” For us to repeat this prayer over and over again, I believe it counts as one of those vain repetitions.

The Lords prayer is an outline for us to use when we pray. First He starts by addressing the one He is praying to, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name" then He recognizes that Christ is the King of earth and heaven, "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." In following, He expresses His complete dependence on God, "Give us today our daily bread." And finally, He asks for forgiveness and redemption, "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."

Well there must be exceptions to that verse such as askin' for forgiveness and protection because you're gonna have to do that more than once in your life and repetition is anything you do more than once. I think what that means is praying for forgiveness for example, and then sinnin' again and thinkin' "oh its ok I can just pray for forgiveness again and everything will be fine". That's a different story. I was thinkin' about that the other night and I was gettin' worried because I ask for forgiveness everyday just in case I've wronged someone or sinned in some way and didn't realize it or didn't mean to. So I started tryin' to switch up they way I pray to avoid repeatin' the same prayer everyday which I had pretty much been doin'. It gets hard though because I like to ask for protection everyday and I thank God everyday for allowin' me to walk amongst the livin' yet again and I like to thank God for beautiful days and that is technically repetition but I didn't want to stop doin' that but I also don't want to go against what the Bible says either. I think the key word in that verse is "vain" which is sayin' don't pray the same prayer just to say you prayed that day and not mean anything by it and then go disobey God thinkin' you can just pray the same prayer again and everything be ok. Like I said though, if you're prayin' a similar prayer everyday such as forgiveness and protection and you are sincere and really want those things and mean it, I think that's a different story. Where as if you're just prayin' just to pray and sayin' the same thing, its wrong. Still though, you shouldn't pray the exact same prayer everyday I don't think but maybe mix it up or ask it in a different way or somethin' like that.

Great comments guys. I just want to add that if you search for the word "pray" in the New Testament, you get a LOT of hits, most of which are instructions for people to pray in various situations for different people, but the one that I think sums up the gist of how we should treat prayer is this:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

While Jesus gives us a model for prayer, we are to pray constantly, whether we are giving thanks, asking for forgiveness, or petition God for a request. Prayer should become an attitude--something we automatically revert to doing in every situation.