When it comes to prayer, all Christians wonder at some point as to how exactly we should pray. We wonder how to form a prayer. We sometimes don’t know what to say or talk to God about in the middle of the prayer, nor how we should end the prayer. The disciples of Jesus also wondered the same thing, and asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. The good news is that Jesus taught them how to pray, which we can read about so that we can also know how to form a prayer.
Matthew 6:6
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
How do you structure a prayer?
In Luke 11:1-4, Jesus just finished praying, and one of His disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray. That is where The Lord’s Prayer comes in. While Jesus did recite and teach them using the Lord’s Prayer, that does not mean that we should pray simply by reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Remember that in Matthew 6:7, Jesus taught us to not pray like the Gentiles, who always heap on empty phrases thinking that it would make their prayers heard more. Jesus teaches us not to pray repetitive prayers, nor prayers that we pray just for reciting them. That is why the Lord’s Prayer is not a guide for the exact words that we are to pray, but is instead the pattern or structure that we are to follow when we pray. Matthew 6:9-14, which is a similar account of the Lord’s Prayer, from the perspective of Matthew, gives us a more detailed structure or pattern of the Lord’s Prayer. We will dive into that structure piece by piece to better understand how we are to form our prayers.
Matthew 6:9-14
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.
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Matthew 6:9
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
How to Form a Prayer
In the Lord’s Prayer, the very first thing that Jesus prayed in verse 9 is “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” As mentioned before, this does not mean that you should always open your prayer with that phrase. Instead, it teaches us a structure, namely that we are to worship and adore God every time we begin our prayers. Prayer is never about us, but about God. Whether we come to God in prayer because we have problems or not, it is only fitting to begin the prayer with worship, praise, reverence, and adoration towards God, as we worship Him for who He is. God is majestic, full of splendor, holy, all-powerful, Creator of the universe, and so much more. Verse 9 teaches us to begin our prayer with worship and adoration.
Matthew 6:10
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
How to Form a Prayer
The next one is from verse 10, where Jesus prayed, “Your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. You might want to check this article out regarding God’s will, where we briefly explain praying for God’s will. Verse 10 teaches us that after we begin our prayer with worship and adoration to God, we are to pray for His kingdom to come and for His will to be done. But what does that mean? When we say that we pray for God’s will to be done, we are talking about God’s perceptive will to be done. In theology, there are several different kinds of God’s will. One is God’s decretive will, where whatever God decrees, will happen. One example is Persia and Assyria, who fell in the Old Testament because God decreed it to be so. Perceptive will is God’s will that He wants us to do. Doing His perceptive will pleases and honors God and makes the world better. For example, honoring your parents is God’s perceptive will for us. That is why praying for God’s (perceptive) will to be done is like praying that sons and daughters will love their parents, business people will be honest in their dealings, people will love instead of hate each other, and much more. When people obey God and follow His perceptive will, it is where God’s kingdom comes here on earth. That is also a matter of preaching the Gospel because unless people are in Christ, they will never obey God or expand His kingdom here. To summarize verse 10, it is about praying for God’s will to be done where people will do what God wants them to do.
Matthew 6:11
Give us this day our daily bread.
How to Form a Prayer
Jesus taught us even more in verse 11, when He prayed, “Give us this day our daily bread,” that we are to pray to God for provision and sustenance. As mentioned several times in our articles, prayer is an act of humility before God, acknowledging that we are dependent on God from whom everything comes. When Jesus mentioned our daily bread, He did not mean praying for bread or food alone. It means that we should pray and ask God for the daily necessities that we need. Praying for the provision we need does not necessarily have to be about physical needs. It could also be about the graces we need as we live our Christian lives. We, as Christians, are all dependent on God’s grace. We need His grace to be bold in making disciples, leadership when it comes to ministry, our studies or work, and many more aspects of a good life. Just as we always pray to God for provision for our physical needs, we also pray to God for grace to continue our Christian walk.
Matthew 6:12-13
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.
How to Form a Prayer
Verses 12 to 13 are somewhat tricky verses. After all, when you read them, it sounds like you still have to ask God for forgiveness, as if you are not forgiven in Christ, and that God is the one who leads us into temptation. However, that is not what it means at all, but for the benefit of you knowing what Jesus meant for us to pray, we will give a brief explanation of what Jesus intended. The first one is verse 12, where Jesus prayed, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors”. At first glance, one would question why we have to ask God for forgiveness. Aren’t we saved in Christ? That is a good question, and to answer that, we are going to explain the three stages of salvation. Salvation is not a one-time event in a Christian’s life when he or she repented and believed in the Gospel. Salvation is an ongoing event in our lives.
The three stages of salvation are Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification. Justification is when someone preached the Gospel to you, and you repented and believed by God’s grace. When you placed your faith in Christ, you were justified in the eyes of God. Because of that, you are no longer a recipient of His wrath, but instead adopted as His child. It is where you are hidden in Christ because Christ is your righteousness (Galatians 2:16) (Colossians 3:3) (2 Corinthians 5:21). The second stage is sanctification; this is where all Christians are. As we all know, just because you became a Christian does not mean you become perfect and one hundred percent like Jesus. We still sin from time to time. However, what makes Christians different from non-Christians is that they keep repenting and are continually sanctified over time. For example, a person may struggle with being impatient, but over time, he or she will bear fruit when he or she becomes patient. That is why we are all works in progress. The Holy Spirit is at work within us, and soon He will bring His work to completion (Philippians 1:6) (1 Thessalonians 5:23) (John 17:17). The last one is glorification. This is where we are raised again, but not with our earthly decaying bodies, but with glorified ones. It is the future hope that we look forward to where we can physically be with God in heaven and worship Him eternally.
Knowing that we are all still being sanctified, we still sin and make mistakes before God. Those are the things for which we must ask forgiveness from God. That does not mean we are not saved and justified. We regard God as a holy God, and we know that sin displeases Him. That is why we ask for forgiveness. That is also why we are also to forgive the sins or debts of others, because not just unbelievers, but also believers, can do us wrong. If we are Christians and when we sin, we don’t care about it, that is a dangerous indication that we didn’t truly repent.
1 John 1:8–9
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The last verse is from verse 13, where Jesus said, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”. At first, it sounds like God is the one who brings us into temptation, but the Bible is clear that God does not, and the Bible never contradicts itself. It is written in James 1:13-14 that God tempts no one and that temptation results from our desires. But what did Jesus mean by that line? First, we have to understand that we humans are sinful by nature. The Holy Spirit is sanctifying us to make us more like Christ. While we are still being sanctified from sin, we are to pray to God to lead us, help us, and to give us the grace never to succumb to temptation, but instead to stay away from it and choose to do right (Philippians 2:13). That is why Psalm 23 talks about Christ, our shepherd, who always leads us on paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. We are always likened to sheep throughout the Bible because sheep always wander independently, run straight forward, even if it is off a cliff, and many other things. That is why when Jesus said, “Lead us not into temptation,” it did not mean that God would tempt us; it is a prayer out of the desire not to sin and succumb to temptation and asking God for the grace not to sin. In other words, it is a prayer for the desire to live in holiness.
To summarize every point of the structure that Jesus has taught us when it comes to forming our prayers, it would be something like this:
- Worship and adore God
- Pray for His will to be done so that His kingdom may come (You should include praying for people to know Christ)
- Pray for our provisions (not just limited to food)
- Ask God for forgiveness for our sins as you also forgive what others have done to you.
- Pray to God for the strength and grace not to succumb to temptation, but to turn your feet away from evil, so that He will lead you away from it and help you live in holiness.
Given the structure that we explained, here is an example of a prayer formulated from the structure that Jesus taught us:
Heavenly Father, You are the Almighty God in whom the earth is Your footstool. I pray for my friends that they will get to know Christ and repent. I pray that they shall stop fighting with each other, but instead, shall be patient and love one another. I also pray for my nation that You shall work in the people’s hearts so that they may call upon You and repent. I pray for our governmental leaders, that they shall always lead with integrity. I also pray for the financial provisions I need, especially my son’s tuition fee. Give me the graces that I need to live an upright life every day. I am sorry for getting angry with my co-worker and not showing grace. Help me to forgive those who have wronged me as well. Give me the grace to always say no to sin and always lead me to Your paths so that I may walk in them. I pray that I shall always turn my feet away from evil. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Prayer is not about reciting the same words over and over again. It is about communication and dialogue with God, our Heavenly Father, as we spend time in solitude with Him. Though we should not pray repetitively, Christ gave us a structure or pattern that we can use as a guide to form our prayers to God and better converse with Him.