Have you ever felt like you aren't very good at prayer? If so, you are not alone. For some, prayer feels just like a routine. For many, prayer is frustrating and confusing. For others, prayer is just boring. Wouldn't it be great if there was some kind of blueprint for prayer that made you actually want to spend time with God?
The good news is that such a model for prayer exists! Jesus makes this clear in the way he introduced it to his disciples: "This, then, is how you should pray" (Matthew 6:9). In just a few short lines, Jesus covers every category of human need and divine concern. There is nothing missing—it's all there.
Of course, this doesn't mean you're meant to just recite the Lord's Prayer word for word and call it a day. Jesus didn't hand out a script as much as he handed you a framework. It's a pattern to shape your own prayers around. It's an outline on which every other prayer can be built. This is why understanding each part of the Lord's Prayer is so important—so that you can pray like Jesus prayed.
In How to Pray Like Jesus, pastor Matt Smallbone walks you through each line of Jesus' prayer—and explains why the order of those lines is so important. You will learn why viewing God as your Father in heaven and glorifying him must be your starting point. You will examine what it means to pray for God's will to be done on Earth in the midst of the clash of kingdoms taking place. You will come to understand what it means to pray for "daily bread" (verse 11), what it looks like to really forgive others and be forgiven, and why Jesus included as the final line of the prayer, "deliver us from the evil one" (verse 13).
In the end, you will find that Jesus' model prayer is more than enough to sustain a flourishing prayer life—and that your prayers will take on fresh energy and purpose as you get the order right.
Designed for use with the How to Pray Like Jesus Bible Study Guide plus Streaming Video, sold separately.
