Prayer Series Study Guide: Week 5 Praying the Lord's Prayer

Community Group Study Guide — Praying the Lord’s Prayer
Matthew 6:9-15

Study Information:
Prayer can be both natural and something we can learn an grow in. Many people experience an impulse to pray from an early age that likely comes from being created in God’s image and seeing his glory in the world around us. We have a deep seeded knowledge of God’s existence, but sin and secularism fight against that and often that impulse to pray is lost. Likewise, prayer can be learned. Followers of Jesus can grow in their knowledge of how to pray and what to pray for.  In the gospel of Luke, the Lord’s Prayer was a direct response to to the disciples request to Jesus, “teach us how to pray.” In the gospel of Matthew, it comes during the Sermon on the Mount as Jesus talks about what it means to practice the kingdom of God. In both situations, Jesus wants his people to have a model of prayer they can follow so they can grow to pray. 

Some of us grew up reciting the Lord’s Prayer in church and loved the beauty of that. Others, on the other hand, can struggle with it feeling ritualistic or habitual. If that is where you’re at, let’s take a step back and learn from this prayer and how it shows us at least four dimensions of prayer that we’re invited to seek God in beginning with God and moving towards our needs. 

God’s Holy Presence
Matthew 6:9
This beautiful prayer begins with the words “Our Father,” as discussed earlier in this prayer series this was not a normal way for a first century Jew to address God. Jesus teaches us that through faith, God is our heavenly father, combining both the immanence (closeness) and transcendence (otherness) of God. We are to pray in such a way that we declare God’s name as holy. There is nothing we can do to add to or take away from God’s holiness, but in this act of prayer we remind ourselves that God is not like us and yet choose to draw close to us and invite us to relate to him as father and child. We hallow God’s name when we declare his worth, power and glory. We declare his holiness when we praise God for his attributes and wonder at who he is. You do not have to begin every prayer here, some prayers just being with “help!” but it may be a good general practice to marvel at God before we bring him our requests. 

God’s Kingdom Work in the World
Matthew 6:10
Next Jesus taught his disciples to pray for God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as in heaven. This begs the question, why wouldn’t God just accomplish his will? Why would he want us to pray for this? God does not need our prayers, but we do see in scripture that he desires them and responds to them. As a loving Father he wants us to pray and for us to ask him to work in the world. Likewise, as we pray for God’s kingdom and his will to be done we see our hearts change and align more to that will.

This is also an invitation to pray for things that seem impossible in our world. Do you ever pray for the culture or for things happening across the nation that seem impossible from a human perspective? There can be a latent apathy when we look at the culture around us and see wickedness, sin and problems. Jesus invites us to bring those to the Lord and ask for God’s kingdom to come and will to be done here and now. 

Our Daily Needs
Matthew 6:11
The prayer turns towards our personal needs at this point with “give us this day our daily bread.” There is a recognition that we have day to day needs that the Lord meets and we should bring them to God. This may be the part of the prayer that feels most natural to us. We’re used to asking God for help when we have need, and sometimes that happens in acute situations and other times it takes the form of giving God thanks for the food, clothing and shelter we have. This part of the prayer is important too because it reminds us that God is not dispassionate or apathetic to our need. Jesus extrapolated on our daily needs later in Matthew 6 when he commanded us to not be anxious about our needs because, “your heavenly Father knows that you need them all (Matthew 6:32).” Praying for our daily needs also reminds us that we’re not self-sufficient people and we were created to depend on God. There are times in your life where this will feel natural and easy because you recognize that you need God’s help, and other times when this prayer will function as a reminder that you’re not a self made person but daily require God’s help and provision.

Our Spiritual Needs
Matthew 6:12-15
Jesus closed out the Lord’s Prayer with a focus on our spiritual needs of forgiveness and protection from evil. If you’re in Christ you been forgiven once and for all by the work of Jesus; yet you’re still invited to bring your sins and debts to God and confess and ask for forgiveness. There seem to be a link here with doing that and being willing to forgive others and release the debt you hold against them. Jesus talked about this attitude in verses 14-15 when he taught that withholding forgiveness carries a consequence that God would withhold forgiveness from you. This seems to go against being justified by faith alone so we have to let scripture interpret scripture here. Most likely Jesus taught that being unable to forgive others may be a sign that you are not actually in Christ, something Jesus will elaborate on further in Matthew 18 and the parable of the unforgiving servant. When we remember and confess our sins we are also able to experience the reminder of God’s forgiveness in Christ and feel the release of that debt. 

Likewise, we can and should pray for protection against temptation and evil. We live in a world filled with sin and obstacles to faithfulness to God’s ways. Each day we can ask God to lead us towards what is holy and to guard us from evil around us whether that be spiritual attack or temptation towards worldliness. God is eager to help us here and we can walk through specific situations in our day or respond to feeling tempted by going to him for help. 

Summary:
Praying prayers like the Lord’s Prayer can teach us to pray, help us when we do not know what to pray for, and enable us to cover four dimensions of prayer from enjoying God’s holiness, asking for him to work in the world, and for our daily needs and spiritual needs. 

At your community group:
Take 15-20 minutes to share about how God has been at work in your life, prayer concerns and pray for one another.

How did God speak to you through the scripture and the sermon this week? 

Discussion Questions:
Read Matthew 6:9-15

What are some reasons many of us need to learn to pray? What does the Lord’s Prayer teach us? Do we have to pray the categories in the Lord’s Prayer every time we pray?

Jesus invites us to pray for God’s kingdom to come. What are some ways we can pray for that right now in our community and country?

How does praying for our daily and spiritual needs remind us of our dependance on God?

Which area of the Lord’s prayer do you find you’re the strongest? Which area can you grow? What steps can you take to bring all of your life to God in prayer and ask for him to work in the world?