Anchor My Faith

Lord, Teach Us To Pray

Scripture: Matthew 6:9-11, 13; Luke 11:1-2, 4

In the previous lesson, we learned about the importance of spending time with Jesus and not allowing distractions to dilute our spiritual life. With this lesson we begin a new section devoted to what has come to be known as the Lord’s prayer; it would be better to understand this as the disciples’ prayer as it uniquely binds them together in a community of worship and intersession.

^{Lk 11:1} “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”’

In our walk with Jesus, we have observed that prayer is important to Jesus and have seen him spend time in prayer. For example, Luke 3:21 – 22 ESV: ²¹ “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”’; Luke 5:15 – 16 ESV: ¹⁵ “But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. ¹⁶ But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”; Luke 6:12 – 13 ESV: ¹² “In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. ¹³ And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:”; Luke 9:18 – 19 ESV: ¹⁸ “Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”’; and Luke 9:28 – 29 ESV: ²⁸ “Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹ And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.”

As the disciples watch and hear Jesus pray, they ask him to teach them a distinctive prayer that they could pray as his disciples, like John did with his disciples. Jesus responds by teaching them a prayer that has become known as “The Lord’s Prayer.” This is a distinctively Christian prayer as it emphasizes the unique relationship of Christian believers to God as their Father.

We see this unique relationship in Romans 8:14 – 17 ESV: ¹⁴ “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”; and Galatians 4:4 – 7 ESV: ⁴ “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

^{Lk 11:2} “And he said to them, “When you pray, say: ^{Mt 6:9} Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. ¹⁰ Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread, ^{Lk 11:4} and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. ^{Mt 6:13} And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”’

Looking at the prayer, we notice it begins with an invocation, “Our Father in heaven,” which is followed by six petitions that give proper priorities. The first three, “hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, and your will be done,” focus on the preeminence of God while the remaining three, “our daily bread, forgive us our sins and lead us not into temptation,” relate to our personal needs.

In our next lesson we will consider in detail this prayer.

Conclusion

The disciples see Jesus taking time to pray and approach him and ask him to teach them to pray as John taught his disciples to pray. Jesus provides them with a prayer which speaks of the preeminence of God and our personal needs.