Luke 11:1-4 – The Lord’s Prayer

Christ teaches us to approach God as our Father in heaven and pray that His name may be known and respected and glorified by all His creatures. We are taught to pray that the power of Satan may be destroyed, that all mankind will call God King, and that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of Christ. We are also taught to pray that God’s will may be done: that the number of saved and obedient people will increase, that His enemies will decrease, and that the time will quickly come when all men shall serve God on earth as the angels do in heaven.

When we ask for our daily bread, we are saying that we are dependent on God for life, breath, and all things. We are asking God to take care of us and give us everything we need. When we ask for forgiveness, we are saying that we are sinful, disobeying God in many ways. We make no excuses, but we ask for the free mercy of our Father in Christ Jesus. We ask Him to forgive us for the sake of Christ who has died on our behalf.

We pray that God, who controls all things in heaven and on earth, will keep us from temptation greater than we can bear. We admit our weakness and readiness to sin. Finally, we are taught to pray against evil. This includes everything that can hurt us in body and soul, especially our great enemy the devil. We know that evil is in us, about us, near us, and on every side, and that we have no power to deliver ourselves from it. We throw ourselves upon Christ for protection and strength.

This prayer should be the pattern of all our prayers. It should give us ideas of what we should pray for and pray against. It should teach us what we give priority to in our prayers. We should study it again and again, so that we can pray the way Christ teaches us.

Questions
1. What does Christ pray for first?
2. Why can we ask for our sins to be forgiven?

Prayer Points
1. Pray that Christ’s Church will be built here on earth.
2. Use prayer points from your congregation.
3. Pray for family matters.