Jump Right In

Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:9-13)

The Lord's prayer contains a pattern for prayer. Years ago, I learned to extend my prayer time by working through these words as a template. To this day, I continue to do this.

I've often heard it said that this prayer begins with worship: "Hallowed by your name." The point often made, then, is that we too should begin our prayer with worship (rather than jumping right into petitions). Not a bad thought. However, there are two things wrong with this as an explanation of the Lord's prayer.

First, the prayer actually begins with an address: "Our Father in heaven." These are extremely important and intimate words. The prayer, then, does not begin with worship but with relationship.

Second, the words "hallowed by your name" (which means, "Let your name be regarded as holy") is a petition! It is a request to God that he would make us recognize his limitless worth. There is therefore no part of this prayer our Lord taught us to pray that is "mere" worship. Instead, we are taught to jump right in with our petitions!

So, it is no sin to spend a lot of time in prayer asking God for things. We shouldn't feel guilty that most of our prayer time is spent asking. But the question is, what kind of things do we ask for...and why? Our adoration of God should lead us to daily pray, "Father, let your name (not mine) be recognized as righteous, honorable, wonderful...holy." This is not a petition to rush through, to get out of the way in order to ask for what we really want. It is the first and foremost petition because it is most honoring to God and most satisfying to our own souls.

May the Lord transform our prayer lives -- not so we stop asking, but so that we finally start asking.