Kingdom Life Inc. 

THE MODEL PRAYER

By: Dr. Michael Hill

Matthew 6:9-13 says “Pray then in this way; Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be Your 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 the evil one. For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.”

This is a scripture often heard in the body of Christ, churches and non religious settings not really knowing the real and in-depth meaning behind these verses. Before I get into a more Kingdom aspect let me explain these verses a little bit better so you understand what I mean when I say “the model prayer.”

Matthew 6: 9 says “in this manner therefore pray, Our Father who art in Heaven Hallowed be Your name.” First this verse specifically says pray in this manner. Jesus was very specific on how we should come to the Lord, but it’s funny how half of us still pray in our own way not following proper instructions. I’m not saying every prayer should sound exactly this way, but it definitely needs to be patterned after this one. Secondly, it says “our Father who art in heaven,” this clearly identifies that God is our Father and He lives in heaven. Not in a statue, charm, rock, picture or some other meaningless thing we humans can think of; but in heaven. Next we have “Hallowed be thy name.” The word “Hallowed” in this verse means to make holy, to set apart for holy use, to revere. Let me put it in proper perspective. Jesus is telling us to always pray in this manner going into a prayer “Hallowing” His name, setting Him apart from everything, making Him holy, giving honor and reverence to His name. Always acknowledging where He dwells and who He is in our lives, our Father. There are a whole lot of people praying all types of ways, but are missing some key beginning points in their prayers that might make a whole world of difference if they just prayed according to the word and not according to doctrinal or denominational ways.

“Give us this day our daily bread,” is the next verse. The word “bread” in this text translates to necessities for the sustenance of life. Also in Matthew 15:26; “and He answered and said it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” What some people don’t realize is in this verse is that Jesus was referring to deliverance and healing, and how it belongs to God’s children. Some people in the body of Christ think it only refers to monetary and tangible things like money and food, but in all actuality its several things wrapped in one and deliverance is the main thing this scripture refers to but we have to know and believe that it's our right to obtain freedom on a daily basis from demonic strongholds, issues, and sickness.  Put it this way, if every believer knew they had the right to get deliverance and acted like the woman with the sick daughter from Matthew 12:21-28, we wouldn’t have a lot of Christians walking around struggling with issues and acting like unbelievers. Do you believe that deliverance is a necessity for the sustenance of life? I certainly do and so does Jesus Christ or why else would He say it belongs to us. 

                Verse 12 says “forgive us our debt as we forgive our debtors.” This is  not always translated accurately. The word debt used in this scripture refers to the sin in our life that should require punishment ,in other words, the sin we commit daily knowingly or unknowingly. We are asking the Lord to forgive us for our imperfections. Also, we are telling the Lord we forgive those who committed sin against us even when we feel they deserve to be punished. The Lord set this in the model prayer so we must realize if we don’t forgive, God can’t forgive us.

                At the beginning of Verse 13 it says “and lead us not into temptation.” The good part about this scripture in the model prayer is if you pray this every morning, you’re guaranteed to see results. You are literally asking the Lord to change your daily direction away from anything that can tempt you like sex, drugs, money and other worldly things that so easily befall us. I also believe praying this will release a grace to deal with any temptation that comes your way. Also in Verse 13, it says “deliver us from the evil one.” We are all somewhat part-time Christians dealing with a full-time enemy. His kingdom never sleeps. All they do is plot and scheme on how they can destroy God’s people. The crucial thing about praying this is if Satan has a trap waiting for you when we pray this we’re asking the Lord to set us free from his plans, cancel them and stop the evil one’s assignment over our lives on a daily basis. “Remember he’s always working, we’re not.” The last part of Verse 13 says, “for yours is the Kingdom, power and glory forever, Amen. This means everything here on earth and in our lives belongs to God and His Kingdom rules over all kingdoms no matter how big or small. This includes worldly systems and governments. God has all the power to do as He pleases and we are powerless without Him. We give glory to Him forever and ever!

                The last thing we should do as Believers is to take this model prayer lightly and use it nonchalantly and never have a true meaning of what we are praying. Think of it like this, I can have the biggest sword going into a battle but if I don’t believe I can be effective or know how to use it I might as well not even go to battle. I’ll lose every time. This is what happens when we don’t pray accurately.

                God, I pray that everyone reading this get a new level of understanding on Your model prayer. Lord I even pray that we get a strong sense of belief in why You made this model for us and why it is so important. Release the grace on them to pray this with boldness and accuracy, the way You intended us to. Now I pray that Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in their life and on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus name, Amen.