Matthew 6:7–13
7“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8“So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
9“Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’
Focused Thinking:
In the previous verses the comparison was with the hypocrites, now the comparison is with the Gentiles.
Hypocrite Comparison
Matt 6:1—The Wrong Way
1“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them…
Matt 6:2—The Wrong Way
2“So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets…
Matt 6:5—The Wrong Way
5“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners…
Matt 6:6—The Right Way
6“But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret…
Gentile Comparison
Matt 6:7—The Wrong Way
7“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
Matt 6:8
8“So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
How should we pray?
Matt 6:9–13
9“Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’
Praise the Father—Matt 6:9
Pray for God’s will to be done—Matt 6:10
Pray for our daily provision—Matt 6:11
Pray for forgiveness (ask for it and give it)—Matt 6:12
Pray for against temptation and evil—Matt 6:13
Praise the Father—Matt 6:13
Personal Application:
One interesting insight and application; Matt 6:13 says, “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
- Praying against temptation needs to be a bigger part of my life for myself, my family and our church.
- If praying against evil is included in this prayer then that speaks to the intensity of the spiritual battle/warfare.
I need to proactively pray against temptation.
I need to proactively pray against evil.
I need to proactively pray against spiritual warfare.
I tend to pray about these things reactively instead of proactively.
➢ Our staff, our trustees, our prayer team and our church need to pray against spiritual warfare.
- The enemy will do everything he can to shut down God’s work in and through us.
- The enemy knows our potential and wants to prevent us from growing in our faith and confidence in the Lord.
Interactive Prayer:
Father, make me a man of greater and greater prayer. Increase my faith and give me the patience to persevere in prayer. Give me the confidence to trust that work in prayer is just as important as work physically. Father, strengthen my prayer life, the staff’s prayer life, the trustee’s prayer life, the prayer team’s prayer life and our church’s prayer life. Please raise up prayer warriors. Give Matthew Bryan vision and wisdom to raise up an unbelievable team for prayer. Father, prayer is so humbling. Give us the wisdom and ability to do what we do in secret. I pray that the strongest ministry of our church will be our prayer ministry. Make our church strong in the secret disciplines.
Father, protect us from temptation and evil. Protect us from the attacks of the enemy. Father, give our church the ability to overcome through Your Spirit. Father, give us the ability to break the strongholds of sin in people’s lives. Father, please give our people the gifts of repentance and faith. Please cause the seeds of the Word of God to fall on good soil.
Father, please be with my family this week as we work through some “strong will” issues for Mark. Protect Mark from the enemy and give him spiritual breakthrough and practical breakthroughs. Father, I pray that for me, Karin and Annika as well. I pray that this will be a life changing week for our family. Give all of us wisdom and the willingness to obey.
Leave a Reply