"The Lord's prayer," is something we as Christians have heard and often recited repeatedly in our walk of faith. I don't know why they call it the Lord's prayer, when we know from the Scriptures this is the model the Lord used to teach His disciples about prayer. Some call it the "Our Father." Regardless of its title, this prayer is central to the Christian faith.

For most of my life when praying this prayer, it became a little more of something I memorized and spewed back out rather than an authentic prayer. These verses, found in Matthew 6 and in Luke 11 of the gospels, however, are very authentic and genuine prayer points when sought out.

Let's examine this prayer in depth:

Matthew 6:9-13

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your Name.

Your Kingdom come.

Your will be done

On 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.

(Mentioned also in Luke 11:2-4, I will stick to Matthew's account for the intents and purposes of this writing.)

Our Father: When we declare to the Lord that He is our Father, we are announcing our identity in Him and His children. We belong to God. This is very powerful to meditate on. Romans 8:16 says that we are the children of God, and verse 17 says that as children we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ!

This statement, "Our Father," also indicates that we belong to the family of God. Jesus did not teach the disciples to say, "My Father," making it just a personal prayer point. But He instructed them to say, "Our Father." Which is a great reminder that we are never alone in the body of Christ. We have a family that we belong to here on the earth.

In heaven: This speaks of where God dwells. It allows us to imaging how vast, how great and majestic God is as He resides in the heavens. For me, it helps me position myself under His greatness.

Hallowed by Your Name: This part alone could trap you in prayer for hours! Hallowed means holy, or to be set apart, sanctified. God is holy, and He has sent His son to make us holy! Focusing on our Holy Father in the heavens establishes us in a place of worship.

His Name is holy! His Name is above every other name! When I am engaging the Lord with this part of the prayer, I begin to call to mind His magnificent names!

He is Jehovah Jireh - provider. He is Jehovah Shalom - God is our peace. He is Jehovah Rapha - the Lord who heals. I could go on and on here, and I encourage you to seek and search out the names of God and recall them when you are praying this mighty prayer!

Your Kingdom come: In this section, it begins petitioning the Lord to establish His Kingdom.

Matthew 13:44-45

"Again the Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it."

Meditating on this helps me understand how great a treasure it is to belong to Christ.

Your will be done: The whole Bible takes us on a journey of learning what God's will is. When you get to know Him through His Word, you begin to have a better understanding of His will for not only you, but also for the greater purposes of God.

It says in Romans 12:2

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

We know it's the Lord's will that none should perish. You can petition God for lost family members here. (According to 2 Peter 3:9)

On earth as it is in heaven: This is a powerful proclamation! We are asking for all of heaven to come into the earth. Meditate on the vastness of this!

Romans 11:33

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and His ways past finding out!

All of heaven is for us!

2 Kings 6:17

And Elisha prayed, and said, "Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Oh God, open our eyes to the invisible realm so that we can see!

The Lord sent us into the earth to be His hands and feet; help us be You in the earth, Lord!

I make this personal. I ask for all of heaven to come into my situation.

Give us this day our daily bread: When I studied this out, the actual meaning for this is thought to mean that we are to ask for what we actually need for that day, our physical needs. Food, resources, healing, etc. Many see this as the need for spiritual bread, or daily revelation of Him.

Regardless, this part of the prayer requires us to come to Him to receive. It didn't say, "Use your daily bread that I gave you." It says, "Give to us...," implying that we must go to Him and get it daily! God is our source.

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors: Father, forgive me of any sin I have committed; help me to be transformed by Your love.

Forgiveness! We hear it preached everywhere. Jesus taught us that we should pray this way! If you continue in Matthew 6:14-15:

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

This is so important! When I pray this, I ask the Lord to reveal who I need to forgive. I ask that the Lord releases me from any bitterness or offense that I'm holding onto. I ask the Lord to help me keep no record of wrongs, etc.

And do not lead us into temptation: Jesus Himself faced temptation. We know from 1 Corinthians 10:13.

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

Spending time in prayer building ourselves up in God prepares us so that when things are formed against us, we have what is needed to resist!

James 4:7

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

But deliver us from the evil one: The Lord is our deliverer. When I pray through this part, I ask the Lord to purge me from any evil. By His grace we are set free! I call to mind what Jesus did for us at the cross. I ask Him to remove any wrong relationships or connections, to position me according to His purposes.

Hebrews 4:16 says,

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.

My prayer is that this would help you in your prayer time with the Lord as you boldly approach His wonderful throne!