Our Father,
Who 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 trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory,
Forever and ever,
Amen

Jesus taught His disciples to pray when He was on Earth. It is a simple prayer, and it is meant to be used as a guideline.

As we enter a new year, we discard many of the “old” things in our lives, but I’d like to take a close look at how this “old” prayer can breathe newness and vitality into 2025.

Our Father— When we pray, we are praying to a very personal God; one who loves us each intimately. But we are also praying to the God who loves our neighbor, and our “enemy.” He is OUR Father. We can, indeed we must pray for others as we would pray for ourselves. And we must see God as our Father– the one who has both Love for us AND Authority over us. He is not removed from us, but He is not listening for us to dictate to Him what He should do.

Who art in Heaven–Yes, Heaven seems far removed from Earth, and God remains removed from us in the sense that we cannot see him with our eyes or hear him with our ears. But God IS in Heaven– He sits on the throne; He reigns; He rules, now and forevermore. God is not trapped here on Earth; he’s not just passing through on His way to some other galaxy; some other reality. He IS and will always be accessible, glorious, all-knowing, and all-powerful over all that we can ask or imagine (see Ephesians 3:19-20)

Hallowed be Thy Name–The very first three of the Ten Commandments all deal with the Holiness of God and the Sacredness of His Name. When we lose sight of WHO HE IS– when we think of Him as “the man upstairs,” or any other image that fails to acknowledge HIS awesome and majestic Holiness, we lose the very power of prayer. Prayer is not powerful because of WHAT we pray or who we pray for, or even in relation to who WE are in relation to God–it is powerful because of His Name, and His Character, and His Authority.

Thy kingdom come–We have a tendency to pray for the kingdom WE want; the outcomes we want; the visions that we have. Prayer is about more than that– it is about being willing and eager to listen for the outcomes GOD has planned, for HIS kingdom, HIS plans, HIS timing, HIS justice, HIS healing, HIS mercy, and HIS final word.

Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven— Earth, and all the systems we know on earth, are broken and tainted by Sin. When we pray, we pray for something we have not ever experienced fully– that we would know God’s perfect peace; perfect fulfillment; perfect righteousness. Often our prayers are limited by what we know, including the brokenness of our own visions and desires. Prayer should take us beyond those limitations. We need to be open to what HE can do, even when it doesn’t match our expectations.

Give us this day our daily bread— What if we were content to let God give us, not what we want, or wish, but what we NEED for each day? Just enough strength and healing to get through one day of Chemo treatments; just enough peace to deal with the uncertainties we face in the next 24 hours; just enough grace to witness to our co-worker, without expecting an immediate positive response? At the same time, what if we are open to God providing enough “daily bread” to feed 5,000! God is sovereign to give us according to the NEED He sees.

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. When we pray this– REALLY pray this– we must examine our motives for prayer and our actions toward others. Do we want God to forgive us in the same manner and to the same degree that we forgive others? This should be a transformative prayer every time we say it.

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil— Jesus never said that God tempts us, such that we should have to ask Him not to. But we are likely to walk straight into temptation if left to our own devices. We need God to lead us away from temptation and protect us– deliver us– from the evil that we will encounter in this broken world. There is a deeper prayer here, as well. We tend to think of temptation and evil coming from various people that we encounter. The prayer here is not to protect us from other people, or the influence of others, but to lead us away from our own desires and protect us from Evil. It may help us with forgiveness (above) when we remember that our true enemy is not an individual person, but the Evil working in them.

For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory Forever and Ever— We must be careful not to pray for our own kingdom (selfish desires) our own power (separate from God), or our own glory. God wants to know what is in our heart, and He wants to see our heart being discipled and shaped into an accurate reflection of His humility, His mercy, and His Love– that how His Kingdom operates!

AMEN!–“May it be so.” Our prayers, like our lives, are not perfect. We have not achieved or imagined all that we “should” pray for. God’s Grace is sufficient to cover when we ask for more (or less) than God has planned for us. Our spirit should trust that God will continue the work He is doing to make us more like Him as we pursue His will and His Kingdom (see Philippians 1:6)

This year, we will be tempted to try many “new” things. Some will be good for us; others may not be in our best interest. I hope that this year, we will grow in our pursuit of prayer– that we may find new ways to draw close to God in prayer. But let us not abandon the fundamentals that are included in this “old” and dear prayer of our Lord Jesus.