Before we get into warfare prayer, we must define what prayer is. Prayer is simply talking to God in everyday language. You bring your thoughts, requests, desires and needs to God. It should be for more than this, though, for prayer ought to be for praise, adoration and worship as well.
The Lord’s Prayer is often misused. When the Lord Jesus taught us how to pray, He didn’t mean that we were to repeat the prayer over and over again until we thought we had said it enough times; it was meant to be a guide for our prayer life.
“But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” Matthew 6:7, KJV
Let’s break it down: the first part of the prayer is, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” Think about the second part of that line: “hallowed be thy name.” To hallow something is to lift it up in your hearts; to make it sacred to yourself. It is an act of worship and adoration where we admit that He is our all in all. We praise His name and put it where it belongs, as the name above all other names.
The second part is, ”Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” Now let’s break this part down as there are several points to it. First, “Thy kingdom come”: we should be praying with an expectation that His kingdom will indeed come; we should seek it with all our souls that the day of Lord’s return comes quickly; we should seek to see His kingdom be restored on Earth. Next, ”Thy will be done”: when was the last time you actually prayed that, in spite of all your desires, you wanted His will to be done in your life? When was the last time you meant it to be true when you prayed it? We should earnestly desire to have His will be put in place of our own wills. He knows what is best for us and his church, and when we pray for ourselves, or for the church, we should be thinking and praying according to God’s divine will, and not just stating our own wills and desires. How do we know God’s will? Well, we don’t always know what God’s will is, so we should pray as Jesus prayed,
“Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Luke 22:42, KJV
Here we see Jesus putting the Father’s will above His own. This is what we should be doing in a daily prayer. Where should it be done? It is already being done in heaven, so we need His will to be done on Earth. But in what part of Earth should it be done? We would say, “In all the Earth,” but God has a more intimate place in mind. In our own hearts is where God wants His will to be done. It is when we allow God’s will to be done in our hearts that we can make a difference in the world around us. He wants to write His own words on our hearts, so that we can be a light to all men.
“Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men.” 2 Corinthians 3:2
Let’s move on: “Give us this day our daily bread,” is the first place in the prayer that a request comes in; not at the beginning of the prayer, but in the middle of it. We should first glorify God and seek His will on Earth, then we will be ready to make our requests known to God. Then, when we ask God for our food, we would have prepared our own hearts to ask humbly for it, and not as children hounding a parent for something to eat because they are hungry.
The next part: “Forgive us our debt as we forgive our debtors,” some translations use the word trespasses. This is the first time a qualifier is to be used in our prayer life, and we are to use it ourselves as a regular part of our prayer life. By God’s own words, we are to seek only the amount of forgiveness that we are willing to forgive others who have hurt us. God will not forgive us more than we are willing to forgive.
“So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” Matthew 18:35, KJV
By brother, here in context, God is meaning any and all who have sinned against us and not just family members. If we do not forgive we shall not be forgiven ourselves.
“And when you stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which isin heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” Mark 11:25, KJV
According to this verse, we must be able to forgive so that our Father in heaven can forgive us. God’s forgiveness depends on how much we are willing to forgive others. Christ may have died to forgive our sins, but we must accept the sacrifice He made; and since we are to be Christ-like, and He forgave all, then so should we.
The next part of the Lord’s prayer is, ”Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Does this mean that God will lead us to sin? No! It means that the earnest heart should pray for the Lord to not lead us where we would face our own weaknesses. We should seek to not be led where we were once weak. Nevertheless, trust in God for He will never let us have more temptation than we can handle. He also promised to deliver us from evil, so He will always make a way for us to overcome our sin.
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a wayto escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13, KJV
The next part is, “For thine is the kingdom, the power and glory forever, Amen.” This is an important part of our prayer life. We acknowledge His kingdom as the everlasting kingdom, full of glory and great power. Saying “amen” means saying “so be it.” It means that we want it to be so, and we are willing to live the life it takes to make it so.
The Lord’s prayer isn’t a bunch of words to just guide our prayer life, but it is a way of living for God’s glory. Our lifestyle should reflect the Lord’s Prayer to all who see us, and we should be living it daily. This is prayer in its simplest form.