A lady had worked frantically to get ready for a dinner party that she was hosting. When the guests had arrived and were seated at the table, she asked her young daughter to say a prayer before the meal. “But I don’t know how to pray!” the girl protested. “Nobody ever taught me!”

“Nonsense,” the mother replied. “Just pray like you have heard me pray.” The little girl sighed, bowed her head and said, “Dear Lord, as busy as I am, why did I invite all these people over!”

I guess we do need someone to teach us how to pray! Thankfully, Jesus does just that. In Matt.7:9-15, we find a model prayer that has long been a pattern for Christians to follow when we talk to God.

It starts out by saying that we can address God as our Father in heaven. Only Christians have this privilege. No other people on the face of the earth can truly refer to God as their Father. When we were baptized into Christ we became part of God’s family, therefore we have benefits that no one outside of Christ can claim. What a blessing it is to address our prayers to such a loving and powerful Father!

Then we should pray for God’s name to be hallowed, that is holy, or set apart. In a world where God’s name is often used as a swear word, we must be careful not to stoop to the behaviors we see all around us. Rather, we should stand out as those who treat the name of God with reverential, awesome respect.

Next, we should ask for God’s kingdom to come, and his will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We should not view this part of the prayer to be entirely futuristic. Jesus ushered in the kingdom of God during his time on earth, and he and his apostles spent much time teaching believers how to live as citizens of that kingdom. However, the kingdom will not arrive in its fullness until Christ returns to restore all things. In the meantime, we must pray that his kingdom continues to advance now, and that we would be blessed in our efforts to see that God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

As we continue through the prayer, we find that we are to pray for our daily bread. Living in a land of relative plenty, we could possibly take our everyday blessings for granted. May it never be so! We must continually trust God for our provisions, and while giving thanks is not specifically referred to here, it might be implied, and thanksgiving is consistently taught throughout Scripture.

Then comes the request to be forgiven of our debts, which of course means our sins. Attached to this request is the statement that we have already forgiven those who have sinned against us. To withhold forgiveness from those who have done us wrong and then expect God to forgive us is an inconsistent position to hold. God will not allow us to take such a hypocritical stance.

Finally, we are to pray for deliverance from temptation and from the influence of the evil one. God does not tempt us, but he might allow us to experience a time of testing. We should not desire this but should ask for relief from those situations that cause us to be tested.

The reason that we should pray in the way that Jesus prescribes in because it is God’s kingdom and power and glory that we must always lift up, both now and forevermore!