The walk
Lord's Prayer
You don't have to know what to say.
Lord, teach us to pray.
Matthew 6:5-15 · Luke 11:1-13 · NET Bible, Matthew 6:13 textual note
The scene
Jesus' disciples had watched him pray.
One day, when he finished, one of them said:
"Lord, teach us to pray."Luke 11:1
They had to learn too.
Jesus also warned against turning prayer into a performance in front of other people, and said that your Father already knows what you need.
Jesus taught his disciples where to begin.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
You can pray these exact words. But listen to what Jesus is teaching you to pray about too.
You begin with your Father: his name, his kingdom and his will. Then you bring him something as ordinary as the food you need today. You ask to be forgiven while learning to forgive, and you ask for help when temptation comes and for deliverance from evil.
You don't have to persuade God to notice you or find the perfect words. Jesus gave us somewhere to start.
A note on the wording:
Matthew 6:12 uses the language of "debts" where this traditional English form says "trespasses." Immediately after the prayer, Jesus uses the language of trespasses when he speaks about forgiveness.
The traditional ending beginning "For thine is the kingdom" is found in many manuscripts, but not in the earliest surviving manuscripts of Matthew. What it says is still true of God.
The point
Your Father knows what things you need before you ask him.Matthew 6:8
Sit with this
Pray.