Introduction
The Trinity of God created all things, and all humans should give thanks to the Lord and give glory to His name each day. As created beings, we have both physical and spiritual needs, and we must humble ourselves, asking for mercy from the Trinity of God in the name of the Lord Jesus to grant us favors and help. Additionally, we should strive to honor the Lord and ensure our prayers, whether in public or private, are pleasing to Him.
The Lord's Teaching on How to Pray
The Lord Jesus provides us with clear guidelines for prayer in Matthew 6 and Luke 11, where the Lord’s Prayer is found. We will focus on the shorter version of the Lord’s Prayer found in Luke 11:1-4:
1 And it happened, as He was offering prayer in a certain place, that when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples.
“One of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, …” This disciple of the Lord is still looking to John’s disciples and how John teaches; as we can see clearly, he made comparisons between both masters that he knows. However, we can also notice that this disciple looks forward to being taught by the Lord about how to pray, even if they have seen someone else doing it in a certain way. In their hearts, they want the way of the Lord Himself, not another master’s way; they want the Lord Jesus, whom they consider their master, to teach them the right way of praying.
2 And He said to them, Whenever you pray, say, Heavenly Father, Hallowed be Thy name. Let Thy kingdom come.
This verse shows that we must start the prayer by glorifying the Father and praying for the kingdom of God to come (See Comments Matthew 6:9-10).
For verses 2 to 4, see Comments Matthew 6:9-13. The Lord gives us a pattern of how to pray in these verses, and when we pray, we should follow this pattern. Before we bring our needs to the Lord, we must glorify the Lord in heaven, then take our needs to ask for help. After glorifying, believe that the Lord will hear all our needs, say the needs, and end with glorifying the Lord again (see Matthew 6:13).
In the Gospel of Luke, the Lord gave a shorter version of the prayer that the Lord taught to His disciples. The Bible is one, and the Lord’s prayer in this gospel and another also are the same but given with different purposes (that is, different audience receiving, then and now), but if we mix both prayers together, it will become one prayer; all have the same meaning and one purpose in teaching. In the Gospel of Luke, we can see a briefer version of the prayer, which all can use when time is limited, but the main points remain the same because the Lord gave one prayer for all situations. We, humans, can select only key verses to make the prayer shorter, addressing specific situations, but the prayer never changes its meaning if you take it from the verses themselves when we pray.
3 Grant us daily our necessary bread.
When we pray, this verse itself, we also tell our needs to the Lord, and at the same time, we must leave our needs with the Lord, and we must trust that the Lord will provide for our needs. Here, along with this verse, we can enumerate our specific needs to the Lord and leave them with the Lord.
4 And forgive us our sins; as we ourselves also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. (“But deliver us from evil” see Sinaiticus codex.)
“And forgive us our sins …” When we pray, we always need to ask the Lord to forgive our sins. It is a lack in this world that humans do not have the heart to forgive one another. When we read this verse, we can plainly see that we all want to receive forgiveness, but we do not wish to give it to anyone. This verse clearly tells us that what we want to receive, we must also give.
“And lead us not into temptation …” We know that the Lord does not lead anyone into temptation (1 John 1:5, James 1:13). Therefore, one might ask oneself what this saying, “and lead us not into temptation” really means. But when the verse says, “lead us not,” it does not mean that the Lord is the One who leads us to fall, but we ourselves. And, when we pray this way, the Lord will block the temptation, but if we do not pray, we, by ourselves, will fall into temptation.
By this portion of the verse, the Lord wants to remind all readers that the Lord loves all humans; He does not want any human to fall into the trap of the evil one, but by human nature, humans will try to find joy for themselves in putting unclean things in front of their eyes and thus letting themselves to be tempted. Those unclean things will feed their hearts to have a need, and that is the temptation to lead the soul to lose the way. But the Lord also gives us a way out when our minds are not straight, so we can come back to the straight path and not let that temptation take over; therefore, go to the Lord by reading the Bible and meditating on the Lord’s teaching.
When you find yourself in a situation filled with temptations, remember that the Lord provides the way out, even when your mind is not straight: the way out is to go immediately to the Lord by reading the Bible, meditating on the Lord’s teaching, and praying for help.
The Lord Jesus is our Master and example for our lives. Therefore, the best way to pray and glorify the Holy Trinity is by following His guidelines rather than relying on vain repetitions, as stated in Matthew 6:7. We can recite the Lord’s Prayer whenever we approach the Lord for worship. Furthermore, we should bring all our requests to the Holy Trinity in the name of the Lord Jesus. When we pray earnestly for our needs, we should first glorify the Lord, as outlined in Luke 11:2 and Matthew 6:9-10. Additionally, it is important to pray for the forgiveness of our sins whenever we come to worship the Holy Trinity or present our prayer requests. While we often have many needs, we wish to bring to Him in public prayer, it is crucial to consider His teachings before making our requests public. To understand how to address our prayer needs both publicly and privately, we can refer to Matthew 6:5-8, where the Lord provides further guidance on prayer.
5 And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, so that they may be seen by people. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.
When you pray, think of the purpose of the words you say. Check your heart before you pray in public. Are you bringing a need before the Lord to ask for His help, or to show off what you are doing? Are you saying one thing, but your heart is thinking something else? Are you praying for the Lord to know or for the people to know?
6 But you, when you pray, enter into your room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“But you, when you pray, enter into your room …” Go to your room when you pray and ask for your own personal wants and for your needs. However, make a difference between your wants and needs when you pray. The needs you have, bring them to the public (church) for prayer, but your personal wants should be between you and the Lord. But for someone else’s wants or needs, when things are too complicated for the person themselves, they can bring them in public for prayer so that everyone can participate by praying together. In this way, you can avoid boasting. Because when praying and asking for one another between brothers, the Lord grants mercy. When the Lord grants mercy, the person can feel boastful, but when someone else prays as well, the boasting will subside (will be controlled).
7 And praying do not use vain repetitions, like the Gentiles, for they think that they will be heard in their many words.
8 Therefore, do not be like them, for your God the Father knows of what things you have need, before you ask Him.
There are two kinds of needs. The first need is the need to fulfill what we do not have; these are our true needs. The second need is the need to show off, which we already have, but we want more; these are our wants. The true needs, we can bring them for public prayer. The wants should only be between us and the Lord; they should be told in secret, and we should not tell them in public; instead, we should bring praise and thanks to the Lord for what we already have. Truly, this verse tells us to be content and be assured that the Lord knows what we need before we even ask, and He will provide for all our needs as He sees fit.
Conclusions
In conclusion, worship and prayer are vital aspects of the life of any follower of the Lord Jesus. We should engage in worship and prayer regularly, always remembering to glorify the Trinity of God and to pray for His kingdom to come. When bringing our requests to the Lord, it is essential to be in the right relationship with Him, ensuring that our conscience is clear and that we approach Him with humility and forgiveness toward others before seeking His mercy. Additionally, we must avoid boasting in our worship and prayers and distinguish between genuine prayer needs and personal desires. While we can present true physical or financial needs in public prayer, our personal desires should remain private, shared only between us and the Lord. If we do not have any urgent needs, we should focus on offering praise and gratitude for what we already have. Matthew 6:8 reminds us to be content, reassuring us that the Lord knows our needs even before we ask. He will provide for all our needs according to His perfect plan.
Meditation Tasks:
- Analyze our prayer life and strive to discern the difference between true needs and personal wants.