Four the past three months I have been discipling a young Nepali man. We have been doing a Discovery Bible Study together. He chose to follow Jesus in December. We did a Discovery Bible Study on Matthew 6:9-13 to learn about prayer. I was introduced to praying through the Lord's Prayer by Larry Lea, in his book, Could You Not Tarry For One Hour twenty-four years ago. I prayed through the Lord's Prayer almost daily for twenty of those years. The outline has expanded through the years as I have used it to pray on-site for three hours at many ministry events. Seeing the Lord's Prayer through the eyes on my new believer friend was very insightful. One of his first observations was that God forgives us. Another observation was that God is a guide who keeps us from temptation. I then asked him, "In one word, who is the Father in each of these petitions?" He then made the observation that the Father is the King. As the King He is bringing His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. I was blown away. I realized for the first time that every request in the Lord's Prayer addresses who the Father is. So with that explanation I want to suggest a new approach to praying through the Lord's Prayer.
Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your Name
You are Yahweh
We allow the Spirit to reveal within our hearts, our sense of need for God in order to accomplish the work He has given us to do. Confessing sin, inadequacies and weakness, we ask Jesus to set Himself a part as Yahweh and appropriate His present ministry in our lives that we may be one with Jesus.
Your Kingdom come
You are the King
We listen to the Spirit for what the Father is doing and by the power of the Spirit we call on the resources of heaven to war against the powers of darkness that the Kingdom of God may be established on earth. In this way we intercede for those the Father is entrusting to us.
Give us this day our daily bread
You are a Provider
We are turning our attention to today, declaring the character of God as a provider and asking for His provision to meet our needs.
Forgive us our debts
You are Forgiver
We allow the Spirit to search our hearts and convict us of our sin. We confess our sin to our heavenly Father and receive His forgiveness. We allow the Spirit to search our hearts and bring to mind those we resent that we may forgive and release them.
Lead us not into temptation
You are a Guide
We allow the Spirit to search our hearts and reveal the nature of our struggle with sin (world, flesh and devil). We seek the leadership of the Father, appropriating His provision to overcome the temptations we will face today in the realms of the world, flesh and the devil.
But deliver us from evil
You are Deliverer
We seek the power of the Spirit to deliver us from those areas in our lives where the devil holds us in bondage that keeps us from fulfilling God's will in our lives today.
In the Lord's Prayer, we are given a model of prayer that leads us to the mountain top of oneness with God in order that we may intercede for His Kingdom resources on earth. We are seeking His Kingdom! As we descend the mountain and face the day, we are given the freedom to ask for God's goodness to provide for our needs today. We then address our obedience to God. We seek His guidance from temptation and His deliverance from our adversary. We are seeking His Righteousness!
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