Prayer is as essential to spiritual life as breathing is to physical life. Prayer is our lifeline to God. There is no life without prayer. But prayer can be misguided and self centered. Our Lord gives us a pattern for prayer that focuses on God, not ourselves and our desires.

ADORATION  “Our Father, who is in heaven”

‘Our’ shows we are part of the body of Christ, the community of believers.

‘Father’ emphasizes our continuing relationship with God. This relationship gives us access to Him. He loves and cares for His children. He is wise and able.

‘who is in heaven’ indicates His transcendence, greatness, and glory. He is over all, and providentially caring for each of His children.

‘hallowed be Your name’ is the first petition. God’s name and person is worthy of all honor and adoration. May this begin in our own hearts. We use His name reverently. We honor His name by walking worthy of His calling. We honor our Father’s name by having a character and life that pleases Him.

SURRENDER TO GOD’S WILL   “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’  

We desire Him to rule in our life and in our world. We submit our will to Him. We desire His will to be done (Psa. 40:8) in all areas of our life.

DEPENDENCE   “Give us this day our daily bread.”  

We depend on God to provide the necessities of life for our physical needs. He gives us life, strength, abilities, opportunities to work, and stable society so we can fulfill our responsibilities. We also need food for our soul from the Word, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit to enable us to live in Christ.

FORGIVENESS  “Forgive us our debts (sins), and we forgive our debtors (those who have sinned against us).

We acknowledge that we have offended God and failed to love and obey Him fully. We come confidently to Him because He has promised to forgive us and cleanse us when we confess (agree with Him) our sins to Him (I John 1:9). We forgive those who have offended us.

PROTECTION  “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the Evil One”.

The Lord is our shield. He is our protection from Satan. But there are real temptations. We pray He will enable us to recognize these temptations and chose the way of escape (I Cor. 10:13).  We pray we will resist Satan so he will flee from us (I Pet. 5:8-9).
 
WORSHIP AND PRAISE   “Yours is the kingdom and power and glory forever.” 

​We adore the Lord for His rule and authority and majesty which endures forever.