pilgrim people

A second reason why we should pray the Lord's Prayer regularly (and in corporate worship) is that this prayer provides us with a proper framework and structure for our prayers. When we pray the Lord's Prayer regularly (as in weekly worship), a form becomes fixed in our minds. An outline of how we are to pray is established in our memory so that life's priorities are underlined and brought into focus. Often, our personal prayers are grossly out of focus. Because of our sinfulness, we tend to put more thought into our personal concerns than the glory of God. Of course, God is deeply interested in our personal concerns. He commands us to cast our anxieties upon him, for he cares for us (1 Pet 5.7; cf. Phil 4.6-7). But because we instinctively think about ourselves before the glory of God, we are all too prone to pray in a manner something like this: "Our Father in heaven, give us this day our daily bread" (!) We can easily skip the place in which our prayers should begin, namely, in adoration of the Father and petition for his kingdom. We need help in ordering our priorities as we approach the sovereign God of eternity.

Praying the Lord's Prayer in corporate worship regularly helps us to that end. When we become very familiar with this prayer that Jesus taught his disciples and apply it to our own praying, our praying will more naturally be structured and shaped with a focus upon the glory of God. The Lord's Prayer orders and prioritizes our own personal communication with our Father in heaven so that it does not become scattered and disorganized in thought. Each petition of the Lord's Prayer is like a box that can be unpacked in adoration, thanksgiving, confession, petition and intercession.