Looking at the Model Prayer
The Spirit of the Prayer
Matt 6:9-13

Matt 6:9-13
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.   12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.   13 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. (KJV)

Matt 6:9-13
9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,   10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.   12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.   13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' (NIV)
 

Introduction
This is not a prayer. It is a teaching about prayer. You never find some one praying this as a prayer in the New Testament.

Some religious groups repeat this many times as if it were a magical prayer to be prayed. In Matt 6:7 Jesus warns against repetitions prayers. 7 "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. (NAS)

This model for prayer teaches us the spirit we are to have when we pray. Notice these nine (9) teachings related to the spirit of prayer.
 
 

A.    This statement does not teach the Fatherhood of God.
        1,    It is a teaching for those born again into the Family of God.
                a.    Some have the Devil as their Father.   John 8:44 "You are of {your} father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own {nature;} for he is a liar, and the father of lies. (NAS)
 

B.    There is a difference in being a creation of God and a Child of God.
Acts 17:29 "Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. (NAS)
 

Illustration Rom 8:15
15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" (NAS)
 

Application

The "Abba Father" is a tender prayer of a child to their Father. After you are Born Again we can pray to our Father because we have been adopted into the family.
 
 

A.    In reverence we come to the throne Recognizing Who God Is.
1 Tim 6:16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see. To Him {be} honor and eternal dominion! Amen. (NAS)
 

B.    In reverence we come to the throne Recognizing What He Does.
Isa 40:14 With whom did He consult and {who} gave Him understanding? And {who} taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge, and informed Him of the way of understanding? (NAS)

Isa 55:9 "For {as} the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. (NAS)
 

Illustration PRAYER, THE PRAYING HANDS
About 1490, two young friends, Albrecht Durer and Franz Knigstein, were struggling young artists. Since both were poor, they worked to support themselves while they studied art.

Work took so much of their time and advancement was slow. Finally, they reached an agreement: they would draw lots, and one of them would work to support both of them while the other would study art. Albrecht won and began to study, while Franz worked at hard labor to support them. They agreed that when Albrecht was successful he would support Franz who would then study art.

Albrecht went off to the cities of Europe to study. As the world now knows, he had not only talent but genius. When he had attained success, he went back to keep his bargain with Franz. But

Albrecht soon discovered the enormous price his friend had paid. For as Franz worked at hard manual labor to support his friend, his fingers had become stiff and twisted. His slender, sensitive hands had been ruined for life. He could no longer execute the delicate brush strokes necessary to fine painting. Though his artistic dreams could never be realized, he was not embittered but rather rejoiced in his friend's success.

One day Durer came upon his friend unexpectedly and found him kneeling with his gnarled hands intertwined in prayer, quietly praying for the success of his friend although he himself could no longer be an artist. Albrecht Durer, the great genius, hurriedly sketched the folded hands of his faithful friend and later completed a truly great masterpiece known as "The Praying Hands."

Today art galleries everywhere feature Albrecht Durer's works, and this particular masterpiece tells an eloquent story of love, sacrifice, labor and gratitude. Stories For The Heart Alice Gray, Multnomah, p. 265.
 

Application

Many times I have come to God in prayer and did not understand what was happening in my life or the life of someone else. I bow and reflected upon who God is and What he has done in the past

Illustration
A little boy was sitting next to a grizzled holy man seated beside the Ganghes River. "Will you teach me to pray?" the boy asked.

"Are you sure that you want to learn?" the holy man asked?  "Yes, of course."

With that the holy man grabbed the boy's neck and plunged his head into the water. He held them there while the boy kicked and screamed and tried to get away. Finally, after an interminable period the holy man let the boy out of the water.

"What was that?" the boy asked.   "That was your first lesson in prayer. When you long for God the way that you longed to breathe, then you will be able to pray."

Application

You really interested in the Kingdom of God? Spend any time praying for God's kingdom to come? We Need a Loyal Spirit.
 
 

John 6:40 "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." (NAS)
 

Illustration
It is a common temptation of Satan to make us give up the reading of the Word and prayer when our enjoyment is gone; as if it were of no use to read the scriptures when we do not enjoy them, and as if it were no use to pray when we have no spirit of prayer.

The truth is that, in order to enjoy the Word, we ought to continue to read it, and the way to obtain a spirit of prayer is to continue praying. The less we read the Word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray.  Source: George Muller, A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George Muller. Christianity Today, Vol. 32, no. 5.
 

Application

Rom 9:16 So then it {does} not {depend} on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. (NAS)
 

Application

Luke 11:4 (NAS)
4 'And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'"
 

Illustration SONG

I owed a debt I could not pay;   He paid a debt he did not owe.
 

Application
 

Illustration    Forgiveness, Most like God
We are most like beasts when we kill.
We are most like men when we judge.
We are most like God when we forgive. The Tale Of The Tardy Oxcart Charles R. Swindoll, Word, p. 216.
 

Illustration FORGIVING, OTHERS
Chris Carrier of Coral Gables, Florida, was abducted when he was 10 years old. His kidnapper, angry with the boy's family, burned him with cigarettes, stabbed him numerous times with an ice pick, then shot him in the head and left him to die in the Everglades. Remarkably, the boy survived, though he lost sight in one eye. No one was ever arrested.

Recently, a man confessed to the crime. Carrier, now a youth minister, went to see him. He found David McAllister, a 77-year-old ex-convict, frail and blind, living in a North Miami Beach nursing home. Carrier began visiting often, reading to McAllister from the Bible and praying with him. His ministry opened the door for McAllister to make a profession of faith.

No arrest is forthcoming; after twenty-two years, the statute of limitations on the crime is long past. In Christian Reader (Jan/Feb 98), Carrier says, "While many people can't understand how I could forgive David McAllister, from my point of view I couldn't not forgive him. If I'd chosen to hate him all these years, or spent my life looking for revenge, then I wouldn't be the man I am today, the man my wife and children love, the man God has helped me to be." Leadership Journal Spring 1998, Vol.XIX, No. 2, p. 73

Application

Application

Some Bible Translations do not have these verses. I am glad the NASB has them even if they are in brackets. These words may not be in the original but they seem to fit don't they. I would vote that they are original, and it gives us a spirit of victory in our prayer life. We need that. Look at these verses and note the spirit of praise and victory.

Rev 5:13-14
13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, {be} blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever."   14 And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped. (NAS)
 

Application