Jesus’ Prayer Request For His Followers

Do you have any need?  Is there anything in your life that is lacking?  Are you without anything?  God has promised to supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19) In the book of James, we are told we don’t have because we do not ask”. (James 4:2)

Jesus told many parables giving us encouragement to pray and not to give up.  Prayer is an exchange with God.  Prayer can be defined as the meeting of words, my words of need and God’s word of promised provision. The instruction of Peter in his writings tells us that everything we need for life and for godliness is realized in our knowledge of Christ Jesus. (2 Peter 1:3)

One thing Jesus was known for was His prayer life.  In Matthew 6, Jesus taught His followers how to pray.  He began by emphasizing the reward.  Jesus said, be careful who you pray to because that is who will give you the reward.  Jesus was concerned prayer would be profitable. 

Jesus explained the receiver of your prayer exchange determined the source of your reward.  When you pray before man to be received by man, man’s provision is the source of your reward.  When you pray to your father in heaven, your father in heaven is the source of your reward.

Teaching further, Jesus said the words you use in prayer matter. Jesus explained that we should not use empty, repeated phrases in our exchange with God.  We should pray in a manner and with the attitude that God is kind, gracious, and willing to give us what we are asking to receive.  God is not a stingy God, but willing to meet our every lack with His promised provision.  We should be confident God knows what we need, since God knows everything, before we even ask. (Matthew 6:8)

In this thought pattern, Jesus taught us how to pray.  He told us the way to get all our needs met with God’s promised provision.  Prayer is an exchange with God.  It is a conversation where we give God our lack and God gives us His supply.  The word Supplication (ask for supply) is exactly what is taking place in prayer. 

Jesus, in these few short phrases, conveys the “manner” in which we should pray.  When Jesus said pray after this manner, He meant pray like this.  He did not mean these exact words.  He meant pray within this vein, within this meaning, within this outline.  When we want to get our needs met with God’s promised provision, this is how we do it.

Our father which art in heaven,
hallowed by 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 debts as we forgive our debtors, and
lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  Amen.

Let’s examine the Lord’s Prayer, or as some people refer to it, the Disciple’s Prayer. 

Our father which art in heaven,

It is imperative we are talking to our father, who is in heaven.  We must have a relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us.  No one, Jesus said, can come to God (The Father) except through Him (Jesus the Son).  Before we are really addressing “God”, we must first believe that Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus took our punishment, Jesus died in our place, Jesus was buried, Jesus rose again, Jesus is in Heaven with God — and Jesus did all that so we could have a relationship with God. (Ephesians 5:2, John 14:6, Romans 10:9)

hallowed be thy name,

This phrase demonstrates our attitude toward who we are praying.  The word hallowed means unique, set apart, different.  The word name means reputation or character.  It is only once we have a relationship with God, The Father, we recognize His character and perceive His reputation.  We understand there’s no other God but Our Father God.  He has a reputation of making the heaven and the earth, raising the dead, making the dumb to speak, healing the lame so they can walk, causing bound men to go free, and providing for the destitute to name a few things He’s done.  He has a character of mercy, grace, love, pardon, faithfulness, kindness, gentleness, to name a few descriptions of the completeness of His character.   

thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,

Everything in heaven and earth belongs to Him.  We want His kingdom to be accomplished.  We want His rule and reign to take place.  We want His ways to be promoted on earth as they are done in heaven. He rules the heaven.  God rules the order of the universe.  He has dominion over every star and over every galaxy.  We want His rule on this earth, where we live, in our home, in our person, and in our possessions.  We desire His kingdom authority to happen.  We align ourselves and our needs to God’s Kingdom purpose.

give us this day our daily bread

God was before there was time and day-by-day we need His fulfillment.  We need His provision today.  We need the things that He has promised us for today.  Our life is temporal, a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow so we need Him to meet our every need today.  Our need for food, water, and the sustaining of life is absolutely necessary for us to live.

forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

God has promised to forgive us to the same measure as we forgive those who have misused us.  God said He would be compassionate to those who are merciful and said we must forgive others so we can exchange our need for His promised provision.  We agree with God to give up resentment, hardness, and making others “pay” because God didn’t make us “pay”.   We forgive others when they rob from us, steal, and overstep their rights in our life because we have a great need for God to forgive us as we have robbed Him, stolen from Him, and overstepped His rights by our thoughts, words, and actions.

lead us not into temptation but deliver us from all evil

God, do not test us.  Do not “try us” because we may fail the test. Lord, save us and deliver us from all evil.  Simply make us totally dependent upon You.  Please don’t allow us to be put in a position to have to win the battles. Our enemies are too strong for us, God.  Save us from all evil.

for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  Amen.

The only thing that lasts forever is God’s kingdom, His rule, and His authority.  The word Amen means, “let it be so” or “let it happen”.  Therefore, we are asking for God’s authority, power, and rule to happen.

At another time, Jesus said the Temple should be called a house of prayer.  After He made this declaration, He turned the money-changers’ tables over and declared that they had made it a den of robbers.  By doing this, Jesus emphasized God’s purpose in prayer.  We are to pray for God’s provision in exchange for our need.  It is God who provides.  Our prayers are answered not because we can pay, but because we cannot pay and we look to Him for His provision.

God’s provision is all of grace.  It is not because of how we ask, where we are when we ask, or when we submit the request.  We receive God’s provision in exchange for our needs because of God’s free gift.  When we pray, let us pray by grace through faith.  We receive what we ask for because of God’s great benefit.  It is because God has set His love and His affection upon us.  Our persuasion of God and our view of God enables us to exchange our need for His promised provision.  God indeed wants to meet all of our needs in accordance with His great value. 

When we pray, let us prayer in line with God’s character, authority, agreement and pleasure to meet our needs.  Make a great exchange . . . your great need for God’s promised provision.  He has promised to supply all you have need of according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

BEGIN TODAY . . . Exchange Your Great Need For God’s Promised Provision.