#17. Jesus gave us a pattern of prayer that assumes corporate prayer, and that He expects us to follow

"And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 "So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 9 "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is 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. 12 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’ Matthew 6:7–13 

Jesus is in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, and turns His attention to the subject of prayer.  In a parallel passage in Luke 11:1-4, Jesus was asked by one of His disciples to teach them how to pray, as John had taught his own disciples.  Jesus responds with essentially this same instruction.  What does the Lord teach His disciples on this important subject?

1) It is an expected prayer.  Jesus does not say "If you pray" but "When you pray" and "Pray, then, in this way".  The Lord does not see prayer as an option for His disciples but as an imperative.  Prayer is not for an elite among the followers of Christ - for those who want to be super-spiritual.  Rather, it is anticipated that all true disciples of Christ will pray.  But how should they pray?  What are the characteristics of the prayer that Jesus teaches His disciples?

2) It is a relational prayer. The disciples are to acknowledge that they are addressing One to Whom they are related as children through Christ.  In a general sense, God is Father to all mankind.  However, the Spirit of adoption dwelling within believers assures them of their relationship to God through Christ and enables them to address Him more particularly as their "Father" (Rom 8:15).

3) It is a reverent prayer.  It is to be addressed to the God Who is in heaven - lifted to the One Who sits above the world in awesome majesty - they are reminded to approach Him with reverence.

Next, the disciples are to revere God's Name - which is shorthand for His very being, with all His glorious attributes and qualities - by requesting that it be hallowed (that is, reverenced, set apart as something holy, treated with the utmost respect).

4) It is a God-honoring prayer. The next concerns of the disciples in their prayer are to be:

• that God's kingdom would come - that it would grow and advance.  This prayer encompasses all the ways in which the rule of God may be extended - i.e. in the lives of God's children, in the church, in the world.  Wherever and whenever people obey the commands of God to an increasing degree, His kingdom "comes".
• that God's will would be done on earth in the same way that it is done in heaven.  In other words, that His kingdom would cover the whole earth and that everyone would gladly bend the knee to the gracious and loving rule of the heavenly Father, as the angels and spirits do in heaven.

The first interests and the first requests in this prayer, then, are to do with God and with the honor of His name.  They need to be expressed out of a desire to see all men coming before Him to worship and adore, to see all creatures in heaven and on earth revering Him as they should.

5) It is a dependent prayer.  Only when the interests of God and the glory of His name are addressed may the disciples, acknowledging their utter dependence on God, bring their own concerns before Him, asking:

• that God would supply their daily need for nourishment (both for their bodies and their souls).
• that He would forgive their trespasses, since they have shown themselves to be His children indeed by fully and freely forgiving those who have offended them.
• that He would preserve them in the spiritual warfare, by not leading them into places of temptation and by delivering them from the forces of evil.

6) It is a pleading prayer. Finally, the disciples are to acknowledge that God has eternal power and all  glory.  They are to provide God with arguments as to why He should answer them.  Nothing that they have asked is beyond His ability to supply.  As a mark of their agreement in the requests made, in the character of the God to Whom they were expressed, and in His faithfulness to hear and answer according to His will, they are to say the "Amen!"

7) It is a daily prayer.  Note the request, "give us THIS DAY our daily bread".  Jesus anticipates that the disciples will pray to God each and every day - probably at the beginning of the day since asking for daily bread when we are about to sleep for the night would not make sense.

8) It is a pattern prayer.  This prayer provides a framework within which we can bring all of our requests to God each day.  However, in the light of what Jesus just taught His disciples about "meaningless repetition" in prayer, He does not intend us to repeat these very words over and over again, day in and day out, thinking that in doing so we have prayed and God will hear us. Rather, we are to take our specific praises and desires and bring them to God in a framework like the one Jesus outlines here.

9) It is a corporate prayer.  Note that the prayer is to "Our" Father, all the requests are for "us", and it is "we" who have forgiven those who offended us.  It seems very clear Jesus envisaged that His disciples would pray not only on their own, but also together as members of His body.  Therefore Jesus phrases this pattern prayer in a way that makes it appropriate to be offered in a group setting.  Even when we are alone, we are still to pray as members of the body and to seek the honor of God's Name and the blessing of our brothers and sisters before Him. 

We need to take seriously the fact that Jesus expects His disciples to pray daily and that He expects them to pray together as His body.  Let's resolve to do both of these things in the coming week!