Perspective from Prayer

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."

—Luke 11:1

Prayer changes everything. In prayer I am reminded of the greatness of God and, thus, the comparable smallness of my problems. When I pray, my problems don't go away. But I get perspective.

Jesus taught what we call the Lord's Prayer (even though it isn't called that anywhere in the Bible). It would be better described as the Disciple's Prayer because Jesus never prayed it. But He taught that prayer in response to the disciples' request, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1).

There's nothing wrong with praying the Lord's Prayer verbatim. But the disciples said, "Lord teach us to pray" not "Teach us a prayer."

Jesus said, "When you pray, say:

'Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.' " (Luke 11:2–4)

That is a template for prayer. The idea is to first contemplate the awesomeness of God. Get things in perspective. You are talking to the Creator of the universe, who is in Heaven. "Hallowed be Your name" means "Praise to Your name. Honor to Your name. Glory to Your name. Set apart is Your name. Hallowed be Your name."

Effectively, we are saying, "Lord, before I offer a single request, I want to first say that I want Your will more than I want my own." See how that can change your prayer? You don't just start off with demands. You start off with worship and praise so that you see God in His glory. Thus, you see your problems for what they really are.

~Greg Laurie~