“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray , do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray.
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
One earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the
power and the glory forever. Amen
(Matthew 6:5-13)
In Matthew 6:5-13, Jesus teaches is disciples how to pray. He tells them to pray in this manner. This prayer has subsequently become known as The Lords Prayer. It is also called The Model Prayer because it is the preferred pattern for prayer and the key to accessing the presence of God. Let us take a look at this prayer and examine one section at a time as we pray.
Hallowed Be Your Name
“Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name…” (Matthew 6:9)
The word hallow means, to praise, to bless, to give thanks, to extol or to magnify. To hallow God means to celebrate Him. Let us pray:
Lord I thank You that Your name is great and greatly to be praised…I decree that Your name is matchless and that there is no other like You…Your Word declares that “at Your name, Jesus, every knee shall bow in heaven, on earth, and every tongue shall confess that You are Lord”…You alone are worthy of my praise today…”
As you begin to pray, rehearse the names of God and praise His name. Before you ask for anything praise your way into the presence of God and approach Him saying:
Father, I thank You that I have a relationship with You by the Blood of Jesus and I praise You today that You are the Lord who is my righteousness, Jehovah T’sidkenu. You are the God of righteousness, by the Blood of Jesus Christ. You have made me Your righteousness. I declare today that I am in You, “not having my own righteousness which is by the law, but I have that which is through Jesus Christ, righteousness of God by faith…”
Lord, I thank You that you are Jehovah M’kaddesh and that You are the Lord my Sanctifier. You are the God who sanctifies me.
Sanctify means, to separate or to be holy.
Thank You that You are the God who causes me to be separate all day today. I walk in sanctification… Jesus says in John 17:17, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” Lord, You are my Sanctifier. I thank You that I am walking and living in truth, I am sanctified, separated from sin…
Once you have established that truth in your heart and spirit, proceed on.
Lord, You are my peace, You are Jehovah Shalom. I declare that I have peace today because You are with me all day long.
Again, there is a scripture that confirms that promise.
It is written. “Be anxious for nothing but in everything through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
So while I’m praising God for being my peace, that Scripture will come into my heart and I will begin to declare,
Lord, I thank You and I praise You today that I am not allowing any anxiety to come into my life at all. I refuse anxiety. I will not be afraid, for You are my peace. I declare in the name of Jesus…
Do you see the pattern? Boldly enter in and say:
You are the Lord who is Jehovah Jireh, You are my provider. I praise You today that You are the God of provision. You said in Your Word that You would abundantly bless my house and satisfy me with bread. You said that even “young lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want for any good thing.” You said if I would honor and obey and would bless You, You would “cause my days to be as the days of heaven on earth…”
What are you doing? You are getting into His presence and you are exalting His name. Do not move out of that court until He is magnified. Psalm 22:3 exalts,
“But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.” You inhabit the praises of Your people.
Your Kingdom Come Your Will Be Done
God now that I’m in Your presence, I want Your Kingdom to come and Your Will to be done in my life. The Bible declares “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4) Lord, I want Your rule to come in my life, I want Your dominion in my life today. Lord, I declare that Your kingdom come and Your will be done in _______________. ( Fill in the blank. Be specific.)
Whatever it is that You want Lord, even if I don’t know what it is, I ask that You come into my life. Whatever it is that You desire, I’m agreeing with You, before I see what You are going to do I know that whatever it is that you do will be right. All day today in the name of Jesus, I am walking in right standing with God…In the name of Jesus, I loose righteousness, peace and joy today and I bind the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Proverbs 16:3 says, “Roll your works upon the Lord, commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, so shall your plans be established and succeed. Lord I thank you that my thoughts are agreeable to Your will and that my plans are established and succeed.”
On Earth As It Is In Heaven
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done in my family, my spouse my parents and in my children. I decree Your order in the lives of my loved ones. Your Kingdom come, your will be done over my Church and its leadership. I pray the manifestation of the Kingdom and Will of God in the life of my pastor, the church staff and eldership.”
Lord I am declaring Your rule, come in the life of my pastor today. In the Name of Jesus, I delare that nobody but Jesus, by the Holy Ghost is going to rule in his/her life all day long. I pray that my church become the church government of God in this nation and that it be the center of righteousness, dissemination, and truth, so the truth must be filled with Christ’s Kingdom and His will. Lord, I declare Your righteousness to reign in our nation today. I decree that those in positions of leadership will make decisions for righteousness sake. I loose right-standing with God and I bind works of darkness today, in the Name of Jesus. “God is not willing, that any should perish but all come to repentance”
(2 Peter 3:9).
In The Name of Jesus, I declare today that everybody in the Harvest that is anywhere near me that is going to get saved, I decree their salvation today.
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
Give me today my daily bread Lord. Don’t let me miss what You are saying to me today. Give me a heart that is sensitive. Grant me an ear that can hear Your voice. “The Lord has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season… He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned.” (Isaiah 50:4) “Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21) Give me Your Word today. If there is anything in the Scripture that I need to read, lead me to it Jesus. You said that You would bring it back to my remembrance by the Holy Spirit. Let me have Your Word today.
Father in the Name of Jesus, I thank You for today’s portion of what is needed to come into the House of God. Thank You that everybody who is supposed to give today, will give today. Thank You that everyone is ordained to obey the Holy Ghost today in giving towards the ministries projects.
Forgive Us Our Debts
“Search me, O God and know my heart, try me and know my anxieties (my thoughts) and see if there may be any wickedness in me…” (Psalm. 139:23- 24) “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast Spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take the Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:10-11) Father God, search me. I open my heart to You. I open my Spirit to You. Let me know if there is anything in me that I may have overlooked that I need to get right.
As We Forgive Our Debtors
Lord, I know that You can only forgive me as I forgive others. I understand that forgiving others and being forgiven myself is a simultaneous thing. As I forgive, I am forgiven. So, in the name of Jesus, I forgive_____________________. (Fill in a name(s). Be specific) I pray for them today. I pray that You bless them and prosper them. Cause whatever their hands touch to prosper. Meet the need of their lives. If they need a miracle today, manifest it. God, I want you to bless them today. Bless their home. Bless their family. Bless them on their job today. Give them a good day. God, cause Your favor to shine upon them today.
Lead Us Not Into Temptation
“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13)
This is the portion of the prayer where, after you have praised God, invoked His priorities, prayed for the things that you need, and repented of sin and forgiven those who have come against you, that it is time to entreat the power of God to give you victory over the enemy.
God, teach me by Your Word. Give me a spirit that is teachable, so that I can receive instruction from You, so that I don’t have to go through the school of spiritual hard knocks to learn every lesson. You said, “Your sheep know Your voice and the voice of a stranger they will not follow.” Teach me to follow Your voice, so I don’t have to go through______________________. (Be specific)
As you pray this way, you can have the assurance that whatever it is that you are going through, you are going through because you are following His Will. God will never leave you. He will never forsake you, but there are times when He is going to lead you right to the mouth of the Red Sea, in his will.
Deliver Us From Evil
Lord, breathe on me now.
Deliverance comes by the Word of God and by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is the breath of God. God will either come by His breath (Spirit) and just blow you out of a situation, or He will come behind you and put His wind in your sails and blow you right through it. That’s Deliverance.
God, don’t lead me into temptation. Lord, allow me to be taught by Your Word. Speak to me out of Your Word today. Anything that I need by the Spirit of God, let it come to me by the Spirit. Don’t take me through anything that I don’t have to go through, in order to teach me, but instead, teach me by Your Word. Lord, I praise You today that You don’t lead me into temptation, that You don’t teach me through circumstances, tests and trials, but everywhere that I can be taught by Your Word, You are teaching me by the Word, and I’ll let the Holy Spirit breathe on that and flow through me in prayer. I thank You that You are not leading me into temptation, but that You are delivering me from the evil one, and You deliver me as I walk fully clothed today in the whole armor of God.
So I declare today before You that I am fully clothed in the armor of God. Lord, I put on my loins, the truth. My loins are girded with truth. Lord not only am I walking in the truth of God, I declare today, by Your revelation that nothing the enemy does will keep me from being fruitful. Today no matter what comes against me, I decree that I am walking in the fruitfulness of God and I am bearing fruit of the Word of God. Today I put on the breastplate of righteousness and I am standing in righteousness. Lord I shod my feet with the readiness of the gospel. “…taking the shield of faith…”
The shield that was used in battle in Paul’s day was five to six feet tall and pointed on the end. When the Roman legions would go to battle, they would take the shield and dig the pointed part of the shield into the ground and then position themselves side by side in a circle to do battle. This means that not only were they warring, but they were also in covenant. They had their brother’s back. You can not walk by faith by yourself.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You today that I am walking by faith. I’m walking today by what Your Word says and not by what I see. I believe what You have said to me through Your Word. I dig the shield of faith in the ground and I am standing on Your Word.
Lord, I put on the helmet of salvation, and I declare that I have the Mind of Christ. Lord, all day long today, I am thinking thoughts consistent with salvation. Thoughts of unworthiness don’t grip me.
“….and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17) Lord, I take the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God to advance against the enemy to come out on the other side of the wilderness with power. Lord, my armor is in place, so that I may stand against the wiles of the devil and having done all, will remain standing.
As you conclude this portion of your prayer time, confirm that your armor is in place so that you may stand against the wiles of the devil and having done all, you will remain standing.
For Yours are the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, Forever
Father, I thank You that the kingdom belongs to You and that You have given me the power to walk and live in the kingdom. I praise You for Your rule in the world and for Your rule in my life. I praise You for the power that You have given me. Father, Yours is the glory. I declare that I am going to glorify You today in my spirit, my soul, and my body. I praise You that you are being glorified through my life. Lord I thank You. I thank You that all of Your work that You have given me to do is Yours. Everything that You have given me is Yours. I am grateful that You have given me a part to play in the unfolding of Your plan and in the unfolding of Your kingdom, and in the releasing of Your powers. The Bible records in John 17 that Jesus prayed that we would be glorified with the same glory that He had. I thank You that You have given me an aspect of Your glory. I lift my hands to You and I thank You God that this is a cooperative effort and I thank You for giving me the privilege of serving You.
AMEN
Now you have come full circle in praise and you have prayed in accordance with the model prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. And when you pray this, you have put yourself in position to hear from God and walk in His Power all day long. Remember prayer is about getting in position to hear from Him.
I pray this tool will enable you to bless the Lord and to receive from Him in measures beyond your wildest expectations.
