“Unlocking the Power of the Model Prayer” Transcript

John: 

Is there such a thing as a good prayer or bad prayer? Is there a right way to pray and a wrong way to pray? Does Jesus give us an example of this is a prayer that we ought to pray or is he simply trying to give us a way that we should pray?

INTRO

Barry: 

Let’s go ahead and look at our passage of scripture. It comes from Matthew chapter six and we start in verse eight. Matthew 6:8-13  “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.  (9)  In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.  (10)  Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.  (11)  Give us this day our daily bread.  (12)  And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.  (13)  And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

You know, this is a section of scripture that sometimes people refer to as the Lord’s prayer. It would probably be better to refer to it as the Model Prayer because that’s exactly what Jesus is trying to give us: a model of how to pray.

It’s important to note how he starts off with this. He says, so pray not like them. If we’ve talked about in a previous video about the idea that Jesus gave us about how prayer can be done incorrectly. When it’s done for selfish motives. Jesus is trying to dispel that idea.

But in order to help us understand how to pray, he gives us a sense of this model prayer.

John: 

And he does. And he begins in verse number eight, the verse that we begin with. And he talks about how God knows what we need before we ever ask him.

And so when you look at what Jesus prays for and the model that he gives us, the emphasis on the idea that there is security in knowing that God loves us. He knows us. He wants to hear from us.

And so when Jesus lays out this model prayer, of course, the real question comes back to, is this a prayer that we need to memorize and repeat often? Or is this something that he’s giving us to kind of model our prayers after?

Barry:

God always wants us to have a conversation with him, to talk with him. He talks about how God gives good gifts. If a son asks his father for something, how he gives it, he compares that to our relationship to God.

And I think no one wants someone to just come up and say the same thing to him. We think about that generic small talk people do. How are you doing? I’m doing fine. When you really don’t even mean it. And I think that’s, if we look especially at the previous section, he wants us to mean it.

But what he’s trying to give us here is a sense of what we should be thinking about. And as you say, God knows what we need. We’re not having a conversation with someone who we have to give information to.

He knows those things. But rather, it’s helping us to develop that relationship and even see that in the prayer. How it starts off is by the address of God, our father who is in heaven.

I mean, that relationship that we have and a relationship that looks at his name as something sacred and good. You know, it’s like opening that conversation. You know how much you mean to me.

And I think that’s even what he’s doing here. The idea of his kingdom come, his will be done. This idea of the prayer is not just a selfish prayer, but rather focused in on God and his will.

John:

And it’s interesting too, that the model prayer that Jesus gives us here really emphasizes a number of different things that of course we do pray for. We begin off, as you mentioned, we honor God. We praise him because from him all blessings flow, as the song says.

And he talks about how our kingdom, or rather the kingdom. He talks about how your kingdom come, your will be done. Of course, our prayer is that God’s will is always done on earth.

And so really when he puts this before us. These are ideas that certainly we should incorporate into our prayers. And it’s also interesting to me that this prayer is not real long. It’s short. It’s to the point. But yet it covers really every base.

Barry:

And you know, give us this day our daily bread is this idea of not worrying about the future, but God will take care of what we need in the past. But it also is the idea of when you ask for daily bread, you’re going to be given a daily prayer. It’s not a one-time thing that you say that’s all-encompassing, even though, as you say, it fills every need.

But it’s this idea of a continual relationship and the things that you would want to talk to God about. The idea of leading us not into temptation. That prayer that God will watch out for us and of the things that matter most.

A lot of people would rather pray for lead me into temptation because there are things that I want to do. But this idea of having a godly mindset of I don’t want to do anything that would hurt my relationship to God. And I think that’s what he’s talking about here.

And he even goes into that in that last section, you know, where he talks about forgiveness. Forgiveness of our debts as we forgive others. And I know we’re going to talk about that specifically in another video because of how Jesus emphasizes it after these verses.

But it’s that important part of knowing that to please God, we’ve got to do the things that are right by him and him giving us the sense to do that.

John:

And so with the prayer that Jesus gives us, the prayer is better called a Model Prayer. Because Jesus lays forth an idea so that we could pattern our prayers after his prayer. Not that we have to memorize this prayer, although memorization is good, don’t get me wrong. But not that we have to memorize this prayer specifically. But yet it lays down the criteria of what a good prayer is and how we should address the Father. Also praise him for what he has done.

Ask him for things that we need, even though we need those things and he knows it. But yet he still wants to hear from us.

We appreciate you joining us today. If you have any more questions about prayer, there are actually several other videos on the website that you can look at that has some more information regarding this concept. And so feel free to do so. If you do have any more questions about this model prayer or something along those lines, feel free to contact us as well.

You can do so by phone call, by text, by email, snail mail, however you want to contact us, you can do so. There’s a contact page on the website, however. You can fill that out and we can get in contact with you that way.

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