3 Prayer Requests from Jesus

“This, then, is how you should pray.” – Matthew 6:9

The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest sermon of all time, delivered by the greatest preacher of all time—Jesus Christ. And right in the middle of this ground-breaking message, Jesus gives us a model prayer to follow when we’re speaking with our heavenly Father. It includes six prayer requests in all, and today, I’d like to take a look at His first three prayer requests with you.

Jesus’ 1st Prayer Request (v. 9): “Hallowed be Your name.” Now, “hallowed” isn’t a word that we use every day. The closest word to it in everyday English is Halloween, which has absolutely nothing to do with what Jesus has in mind here. The word hallowed comes from the same Greek word as holy, which means “to be set apart.” So, to be hallowed means to be regarded as holy or to be set apart from everything else. But if we draw the conclusion that hallowing God’s name is just a matter of regarding God as holy in our minds, we have missed Jesus’ point. God is not interested in hearing us say with our mouths, “Hallowed be Your name” unless we really mean it in our hearts. If our hearts don’t mean it, then God’s ears don’t want to hear it.

Here are a few synonyms for “hallow” as Jesus uses the word in The Lord’s Prayer: revere, honor; esteem, value, treasure and love. With that in mind, what is Jesus’ first petition in this great prayer model? It’s this: “Our Father in heaven, we want Your name be revered here on earth. We want Your name to be honored among us. We desire to esteem and value Your name more than any other name. We want to treasure You as the highest priority in our lives and love You will all our hearts.”

If we’re just praying with our mouths and not with our hearts, our prayers will always be shallow and weak. But our prayers come alive when they are prayed from a heart that truly desires for God to be honored, valued, treasured and loved here on earth just as He is in heaven. Once you understand what it means to truly pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name,” Jesus’ next two prayer requests make perfect sense.

Jesus’ 2nd Prayer Request (v. 10a): “Your Kingdom come.” This second petition touches on two key things. First, it focuses on Jesus’ present Kingdom expanding now. As Jesus walked this earth, wherever He went, He took some of the best parts of heaven with Him—mercy, grace, kindness, truth, compassion, and unconditional love. And if you and I are followers of Jesus Christ with the His Holy Spirit living inside us, we also take some those parts of heaven with us wherever we go.

So, when we pray, “Your Kingdom Come” what we should mean is this: “Father in heaven, because our hearts long for You to be revered, valued, treasured and loved, we ask that You expand Your kingdom wherever we go. This world we live in has pushed You away long enough! So, Father, won’t You expand Your kingdom in our families, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, and in our church. Everywhere we go, loving Father, grow Your kingdom through us.”

This second petition also touches on Jesus’ future kingdom covering the earth. Jesus is urging us to be forward thinking, to say as John says at the end of the Book of Revelation: “Come, Lord Jesus.” As Christ’s disciples, we are determined to expand Jesus’ kingdom today in our corner of the world. But at the same time, we long for the day when Jesus Christ will come down once again and restore complete order, peace and righteousness to this old earth—as it is in heaven.

Jesus’ 3rd Prayer Request (v. 10b): “Your will be done.” This petition goes hand-in-hand with the prior one. As God’s kingdom is established, His will must be done. As with the first two petitions, when we pray this prayer, we must be ready and willing to live it out. Yes, we want God’s will to be done in the White House, but first God’s will must be done right here in our house. Yes, we want God’s will to be done in our neighbor’s backyard, but first God’s will must be done in our own backyard.

With each of these petitions, we are asking God to partner with us to hallow His name, to usher in His kingdom and carry out His will. If you’re like many Christians, you’ve probably wondered at times why God doesn’t seem to answer your prayers. Why is that? Well, if you and I aren’t willing to roll up our sleeves and make it so in our own lives, the words of our prayers are empty. But when we’re willing to surrender our treasuring of ourselves to our treasuring of God; when we’re ready to scap our own kingdom in order to expand God’s kingdom; and when we’re prepared to push aside our will in order to carry out God’s will—you’d better believe that God will answer our prayers.

Try this in the coming week: Pray every day. And when you do, pray for God’s name to be treasured and loved  by you and by those around you. Pray for God’s Kingdom to come. And pray for His will to be done in your little corner of the world.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of Impact Christian Church. Please join us for our in-person worship service tomorrow at 9 a.m. at 17746 George Blvd. in Victorville. Or, join us online at 10 a.m. on the Impact Christian Church YouTube channel or Facebook page. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

For Serious Pray-ers Only

“Lord, [would you] teach us to pray?" – Luke 11:1

I believe there are two kinds of men: Those who ask for directions, and those who don’t. I know which group I fall into, and I suspect it’s the case with 90 percent of the men out there: We just don’t like to ask for help. That holds true whether we’re driving somewhere we haven’t been before … or putting something together that has these three fateful words on the box: “Some Assembly Required.”

Pastor Chuck Swindoll tells the story of one Christmas Eve when his kids were little. After they were all in bed, he dragged out a box from its hiding place and proceeded to put it together on the living room floor. He didn’t bother to look at the instructions because the picture of the finished toy was right there on the box. Easy smeezy! Well, as Christmas morning approached, the toy didn’t look anything like the picture. So, he dug through the trash for the instructions, and at the top of the page were these words in small print: “Now that you’ve made a mess of things, please start over and follow these instructions.”

When it comes to finding our way to a new place or assembling one of our kids’ new toys, our families should cut us some slack when we make a mess of things. But when it comes to our relationship with Jesus Christ, there’s really no excuse for us to refuse to ask for instructions. That’s especially true when it comes to prayer.

Luke chapter 11 begins with Jesus doing what he did so often: He was spending time in personal prayer with God the Father. After he finished praying, one of Jesus’ apostles asked, “Lord, [would you] teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples?” (v. 1). And since prayer was such a high priority for Jesus, he was happy to oblige. He taught them a prayer which is usually called “The Lord’s Prayer.” This prayer is very short, but Jesus says more in these 34 words than most men could say in 340 words. And as you pray, here are some questions you should ask yourself:

#1: Is God your Father? Notice how Jesus addresses God in verse 2, at the start of the Lord’s Prayer. He simply calls Him “Father.” Maybe Jesus wanted us to understand that God is interested in a personal relationship with us. The Bible teaches that we are outside of God’s family, even enemies of God. And it’s only through Jesus Christ that we can be adopted into His family. If you have not chosen to put your faith in Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior and Lord, God isn’t your “Father.” But if you are a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, you DO have this amazing honor and privilege: to call God your Father.

#2: If God’s name revered in your words and in your home? The first thing Jesus teaches us to pray after addressing God as “Father” is “hallowed be Your name” (v. 2). This word, “hallowed,” comes from the word “holy.” It means revered, honored and held up high. God’s name should be set apart and held up higher than any name, any word, in the English language. So, we should never throw around God’s name as a curse word. We need to guard our own mouths against dishonoring God’s name. It seems a little old fashioned, but it’s really a timeless principle: Always, always, always revere God’s name.

#3: Do you submit to God’s agenda for the world? When Jesus teaches us to pray, “your kingdom come” (v. 2), he is reminding us that God’s agenda is so much more important than our agenda; God’s plans are so much better than our plans. When we pray “Your kingdom come,” we are saying, “Father, if my plans don’t line up with Yours, then please scrap all my plans. My life is not about building my kingdom; it’s about building Your kingdom. My life isn’t about bringing me glory; it’s about bringing You glory.” The purpose of prayer is not to get our will done in heaven. The purpose of prayer is to get God’s will done on earth and to say to God loud and clear: “I am ready and willing to be Ground Zero of Your will being carried out on earth.”

#4: Do you take your daily needs to the Father? Some Christians think it’s selfish to ever ask God for health or a job or a car or food. But Jesus teaches us to go to our Father with our daily needs by praying, “Give us each day our daily bread” (v. 3).  He doesn’t teach us to ask for next month’s food or even tomorrow’s food, but to go to God each and every day asking Him to meet our needs for the day. One of God’s characteristics is generosity. He loves to meet needs. So, if you have a need, take it to your Father in heaven. He delights in meeting the needs of His sons and daughters who love Him, trust Him and obey His word.

This prayer can teach us so much. And really, prayer provides the ultimate instructions. When we have needs, we should go to God first. When we need answers, we should go to God first for advice. When we need forgiveness, we should go to God first. When we know temptation is coming, we should go to God first to ask for protection against that temptation. I wonder if there is a room in heaven filled with strength and peace and material blessings that were never claimed here on earth by Christ’s followers because we never asked God to give them to us. We have not because we ask not.

  

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville and the author of "Holy Huldah: Lessons You Should Never Forget from Bible Characters You've Never Heard Of." For more information, visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com, and join us for our Worship Celebration Sundays at 10 a.m.