Most of us are familiar with the following scripture.
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today 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 the evil.
It is commonly known as ‘The Lord’s Prayer’.
It is actually in response to the disciples asking Jesus to teach them how to pray. The disciples had seen the results of Jesus’ prayers, so it would seem natural for them to want to be taught how to pray by Him.
Jesus wasn’t just teaching them a prayer to memorize and repeat but He was teaching them what prayer was really about. For example, look how His lesson starts. The very first thing is to recognize just who God is – “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Before we ask for things we need to recognize and acknowledge who it is we are talking to and who we are. This first statement by Jesus makes it clear that the Father is holy, He is above all and our attitude toward Him should reflect as much.
Actually, the first two items in Jesus’ instruction on prayer are declarations rather than asks. They represent 1) our recognition of God’s position, especially in relation to ours and 2) our need to surrender to His will above ours.
He follows this up with our requests and daily needs, addressing forgiveness in our lives and protection from evil and temptation. These are the asks and in them there is indeed great importance. But what we learn from the specific order of things is that our declarations about God need to precede our asking of Him. This is the appropriate order as God is the priority. But it’s even more than that. As we recognize and acknowledge exactly who God is our confidence is increased. When we realize just who it is we are asking and we acknowledge such we can have confidence in what we ask. When we acknowledge God’s sovereignty and greatness it also helps us align what we ask for so that it lines up more with God’s desire for our lives.