The Lord's Prayer
How to pray the Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father, is the prayer Jesus taught his disciples. Christians of every tradition pray it, in church, at weddings and funerals, and alone at night. Because it is so familiar, it is easy to say it quickly without noticing what we are asking.
This guide walks through the prayer line by line, using the text of Matthew 6, and ends with a way to pray it slowly.
9Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 10Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us today our daily bread. 12Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. 13Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’
Where it comes from
Luke tells us the prayer was an answer to a request. The disciples watched Jesus pray and asked him to teach them.
In Matthew, Jesus gives it right after warning against prayers made of many empty words. What matters is not length or the right formula. God already knows what we need; prayer is trust spoken out loud.
When he finished praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”
7In praying, don’t use vain repetitions as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking. 8Therefore don’t be like them, for your Father knows what things you need before you ask him.
Our Father in heaven
The prayer begins with a relationship. "Father" is close and personal; "in heaven" keeps the greatness of God in view. And it says "our", not "my": even when prayed alone, it is prayed together with others.
"May your name be kept holy" ("hallowed be thy name" in older translations) asks that God be honored as he truly is, in the world and in our own lives.
Your Kingdom come, your will be done
Before asking for anything for ourselves, the prayer asks for God's purposes: that his reign of justice and love would come, and that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Praying this line also places our own plans in God's hands. It is the same surrender Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane.
Give us today our daily bread
The request is simple and concrete: bread for today. It echoes the manna in the desert, given one day at a time. It invites us to bring ordinary needs to God, food, work, health, and to trust him for today instead of carrying the whole year's worries at once.
It is also a plural request. "Give us" includes those who do not have enough.
Forgive us, as we forgive
This is the one line Jesus comments on right after the prayer. Receiving forgiveness and offering it belong together. The prayer does not pretend that forgiving is easy; it asks for the grace to do it.
If a name comes to mind when you pray this line, you have found where to begin.
14For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Lead us, deliver us
The last request admits our weakness. We ask God to keep us from what would overcome us and to rescue us from evil. Some translations say "the evil one", as the World English Bible does.
Many Christians end with "for yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen." These words are found in many later manuscripts of Matthew, though not in the oldest ones, so some translations place them in a footnote. Either way, the prayer ends where it began: with God.
Praying it slowly
Familiar words become new again when we slow down. Try this once a day for a week:
- Pray one line, then stop and stay with it for a few breaths.
- After each line, add a sentence of your own: a name, a need, a thank you.
- On the line about bread, name what you need today.
- On the line about forgiveness, name someone you need to forgive, or ask forgiveness from.
- Finish by praying the whole prayer again, without stopping.
The Lord's Prayer fits into a minute, but it can hold a whole life. Pray it slowly once today and let one of its lines stay with you.
Scripture source
Scripture quotations on this page are from the World English Bible Classic.
World English Bible Classic (WEB), public domain. World English Bible is a trademark of eBible.org.