Why Pray the MOdel Prayer?

By dwayne moore, founder and president of NLWI

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in 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, for ever. Amen.

Matthew 6:9b-13 KJV

Why the Model Prayer?

In his book With Christ In the School of Prayer, Andrew Murray

describes the Model Prayer as “a form of prayer in which there breathe

the freshness and fullness of the Eternal Life. So simple that the child can

lisp it, so divinely rich that it comprehends all that God can give. A form

of prayer that becomes the model and inspiration of all other prayer, and

yet always draws us back to itself as the deepest utterance of our souls

before our God.”

The ancient Christian author and apologist Tertullian once called the

Lord’s Prayer “an abridgment of the entire Gospel.”

Martin Luther said, “Whatever needs are in the world, they are

included in the Lord’s Prayer. And all the prayers in the Psalms and all the

prayers which could ever be devised are in the Lord’s Prayer.”

Author and seminary president Dr. Albert Mohler wrote this about

the Lord’s Prayer: “It stands at the very center of the Sermon on the Mount

and so should stand at the very center of our lives as Christ’s followers. For

this and many other reasons, Christians need to regularly revisit the rich

theology of the Lord’s Prayer.”

Yes, but why?

Even with all the accolades surrounding the Lord’s Prayer, few seem to

sufficiently explain why—really why—this particular prayer gets so much

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom

come. Thy will be done in 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, for ever. Amen.

Matthew 6:9b-13 KJV4

attention. Sure, we know Jesus said that we should pray this prayer. And

the very fact that Jesus uttered it must mean it holds great significance.

But why? Many Christians seem ready to dutifully recite the words of

the prayer when called upon; yet honestly, many of us don’t know why it

matters or what it means.

Perhaps you see the Model Prayer the way some see the Mona Lisa.

The Mona Lisa is a masterpiece, painted by Leonardo da Vinci, and

remains the most popular in the Louvre Museum in Paris. But do you

know why? Most people have heard of the Mona Lisa. They can even

tell you something about the lady in the painting—her smile, her folded

hands, the landscape around her. Yet many don’t understand why it is

considered the apex of art throughout the world. They have no idea why

it deserves such an iconic status. I read about a man who sat and stared

at the Mona Lisa for an entire day. His conclusion was that once someone

actually sees the painting and studies its contours up close, he or she will

realize it truly is one of the greatest masterpieces ever conceived.

Similarly, it could be of great benefit to us if we took time to “stare”

at the Lord’s Prayer and study it up close. Perhaps we, too, would begin to

see it as the masterpiece it is.

READ Luke 11:1-4

Now read it again, but

this time, imagine yourself in the scene, hearing Jesus pray. How might

you have felt? Would you have wanted to approach him like the disciple

did? Would you have asked, “Teach me to pray”? What about the prayer

he instructed his disciples to pray? Would his words have inspired and

encouraged you, or might they have caused you to have more questions

and confusion?

The scene in Luke 11 may not have been the first time Jesus instructed

the disciples on how to pray. Nonetheless, they still did not quite get it.

In verse 1, a disciple heard Jesus praying and said, “Lord, teach us to

pray.” Notice that he was apparently the only one who stepped up and

asked. Perhaps not all of Jesus’ disciples had a strong desire to learn more

about prayer. Some may have thought they already knew enough about

it. After all, the Jews had been praying to God for hundreds of years, and

the Pharisees and religious leaders may have trained some of the disciples

as children about prayer. Therefore, they may have felt they already knew

how to pray.

Fortunately, there was at least one person listening to Jesus pray who

yearned to grow more in his communion with God. He didn’t think he’d5

arrived or graduated from the school of prayer. It is likely that disciple had

seen the power of Jesus’ prayers and sensed the closeness he had with his

Father, and he wanted to experience that kind of intimate prayer in his

own life.

Some people might see this study and think, “There are hundreds

of books about the Lord’s Prayer, and thousands of sermons have been

preached on it. So why write another study on the Model Prayer? Hasn’t

enough been written and said already? Can’t we just dispense with more

study on prayer?”

No, actually we cannot, because some still want and need to be taught

better how to pray. We need to understand how the Model Prayer can

shape our hearts for worship. As we go through this study together, I

believe we will discover a new perspective on prayer that will deepen our

communion with God and increase the effectiveness of our prayers and

worship.

---

---

NOTE: This is an excerpt from HE. WE. THEY. The Life-Altering Formula of the Lord’s Prayer © 2022 by Dwayne Moore. Used by Permission.

FOOTNOTES

1 Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 64.

2 Dwayne Moore, Pure Praise: A Heart-Focused Bible Study on Worship REVISED EDITION (Colorado Springs: Group Publishing, 2018) 13.

3 John MacAruthur Jr., The Ultimate Priority (Chicago: Moody Press, 1983), 14-16.

4 John Macarthur, “Prayer: The Highest Form of Worship,” Grace to You, August 26, 2012, https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/90-447/prayer-the-highest-form-of-worship.

⁵ ibid.

6 Strong’s Concordance, 1343 Dikaiosuné, Bible Hub, https://biblehub.com/greek/1343.htm.