Teach Us to Pray – An Acrostic Based on the Lord’s Prayer

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Do you want to learn how to pray? Jesus’ disciples observed His authenticity and consistency in praying. “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray …'” (Lk. 11:1). He responded with a pattern for praying that’s come to be known as the Lord’s Prayer. While many of us can repeat this prayer from memory, do we truly grasp the significance of what these words represent for us in how to pray? Following you’ll find an acrostic based on the Lord’s Prayer that looks behind the words to their meaning.

An Acrostic on How to Pray Based on the Lord’s Prayer

This acrostic using the word PRAYER, pulls on different phrases from the Lord’s Prayer as found in Luke 11:1-4 and Matthew 6:9-13. It doesn’t follow the exact order of His prayer but rather is meant to point to elements of that prayer. You’ll also find some of the phrases referenced more than once.

Jesus was teaching that praying is about …

The Lord's Prayer Begins with Our FatherP – Praising

Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

How will we truly mean what follows if we don’t view God as great enough and high enough to accomplish what’s right and best for us?

R – Requesting

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Praying is about relying on Him to not only give us what we need but know what we need. We must get beyond physical needs to relational and spiritual needs as well.

A – Aligning

Thy Kingdom come …

In praying we need to acknowledge and trust in the sovereignty of God, making it about His glory.

Y – Yielding

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Praying must get beyond merely asking for what we want. Like Jesus, let’s learn to pray, “Not my will but yours be done” (Lk. 22:42). We make it about doing life and ministry His ways because He is sovereign. He knows what’s best.

E – Embracing

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

As we pray we embrace His mercy and grace to the extent that it impacts how we relate to others. We grab hold of His power to make us overcomers.

R – Resting

For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen

If when we pray, we praise Him and make our requests with the intent of aligning and yielding to Him, we not only embrace His mercy, grace, and power but also find peace that lets us rest knowing He’s in control.

Resources to Teach Us How to Pray

Below you’ll find a variety of different resources to help pray as Jesus taught His disciples:

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Spiritual Disciplines’ Purpose Make It Worthwhile?

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God’s Word says to “train yourself to be godly” (1 Tim. 4:7). It’s the same word used for exercising to become physically fit. 2 Timothy 2:3-6 refers to soldiers who undergo vigorous discipline so they’re fit to win the battle, athletes who train to win a prize, and farmers who endure hardship for a crop. The end result of such discipline makes it worth it for them. Do we find spiritual disciplines’ purpose worthwhile?

Before answering that question, we should first have answers to these:

Identifying a Spiritual Discipline’s Purpose That Truly Motivates

To consistently engage in that which could cause us some inconvenience or discomfort, we need a pretty good reason to do so. We humans don’t like to give up our personal agendas and interests for something we don’t perceive as worth the time and effort. For example, to consistently and persistently spend time in the Word and prayer, we need motivation beyond reasoning that it’s something Christians do. It needs to go beyond what a pastor or Bible teacher instructs us to do. Guilt and coercion may work for a while but usually don’t keep us going.

Knowing Christ is a Worthy Spiritual Disciplines Purpose

The Apostle Paul identified a spiritual disciplines purpose that truly motivated him. He said, “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ …” (Phil. 3:8-11).

Is your heart’s desire to more fully know and love our Lord? If so, the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ” should make you want to engage in spiritual disciplines, even when it involves sacrifice. The more intimately acquainted you become with Him, the more spiritual disciplines purpose will seem worthwhile.

For more, check out the Getting Spiritually Fit Discipleship Tool which will help you further reflect on motivation for engaging in spiritual disciplines.

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Conformed to the Image of Christ

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Conformed to the Image of Christ, God's Son
God intends for us to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom.8:29). It takes more than outward conformity of simply following His example. The change into His likeness begins on the inside, which then manifests itself outwardly in all we do. That requires power outside of ourselves. Only as we walk in the Spirit will we truly emulate Jesus from the inside out (Gal.5:13-26). Christlikeness will then affect all we do.

Conformity to Christ Affects Our Relationship with God

We read of Jesus praying to the Father. His example so impacted His disciples that they asked Him to teach them how to pray (Lk. 11:1-4). From Him we learn that teaching prayer by example requires … (Click on links to read posts.)

If Jesus found prayer to be vital to His relationship with the Father, certainly those who are conformed to the image of Christ should find praying vital to their walk with God.

Christlikeness Affects Our Relationships with Others

Scripture specifically exhorts us, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5). It goes on to describe an attitude of humility and servanthood. Read: Jesus’ Example of Servanthood

When conformed to the image of Christ, it spills over into how we speak and react. Click on the following links to read more:

Being Conformed to the Image of Christ Affects How We Do Ministry

All we do, “whether in word or deed”, is to be done “in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3:17). That means we pull on His power and authority as we align with Him in the way we serve. Take time to read: Ministry Methodology All in the Name of the Lord

Alignment with Him provides a broad covering for how we do ministry. We can also learn how to do specific ministries from His example. Consider teaching: Jesus, the Master Teacher, shows us how to teach others. Read the following posts to learn ways to conform your teaching with His:

When conformed to the image of Christ, we’ll also be concerned with helping others in their ministries. Jesus actively discipled and equipped people in His earthly ministry.

  • Let’s rely on and yield to the Holy Spirit to make us more like Christ in all we do!
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God is Holy

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Have you noticed how some people want to focus on God’s love more than His holiness, even to the point of forgetting that God is holy? It provides an excuse to live contrary to His Word. Wouldn’t a loving God want me to be happy? Surely a loving God doesn’t really mean we shouldn’t do this or that.

God’s Character Defines Holiness

Does His holiness still matter? It does if the God of the Bible still matters. Scripture clearly describes Him as a loving God whose love endures forever. The Bible also says God is holy (1 Pet. 1:15-16). He is both loving and holy, at the same time. As a loving God, He establishes standards in keeping with His holiness. His ways and thoughts are so much higher and better than ours (Isa. 55:9). Our ways lead to destruction (Prov. 14:12). His ways are righteous and pure (Ps. 19:9). A loving God wants to keep us from self-destructing. Love and holiness therefore gel.

Other traits enter into His holiness. Because God is eternal and also knows all things, He sees the beginning from the end. What He deems as holy isn’t a random setting of rules and regulations. He knows what’s best for us.

God is also just so we may suffer the consequences when we sin against His holiness but always with the purpose of making us better, for “the Lord disciplines the one He loves … in order that we may share in His holiness” (Heb. 12:6, 10). He is also merciful when we return to Him (Lam. 3:22-24, 33-40). – “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.” (Lam. 3:22)

Since God is Holy, What Are the Implications for Us?

Because God is Holy, Be HolyScripture clearly responds to this question: “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.'” (1 Pet. 1:15-16)

Take time to read the following posts to further reflect on what it means for us to have a holy God:

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3 Basic Ways to Grow the Church

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Ways to Grow the Church Must Follow God's Design in Eph. 4:16
Interested in Church Growth? Before putting all sorts of complicated systems and strategies in place, start with the three basic ways to grow the Church as seen in Ephesians 4:16. Follow God’s design.

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

By church growth we’re not just talking about numbers, though numerical growth often becomes a part of it. We’re talking about growing “to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Eph. 4:15).

Basic #1 for Church Growth: Acknowledge and Align with the Head of the Church

After referring to Christ “who is the head” in verse 15, we read “From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows …” (Eph. 4:16). Elsewhere Jesus said, “apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5). The number one way to grow the Church must be to acknowledge and align with the Head of the Church.

Jesus, not our programs, leaders, technology, buildings, or strategies, must have first place in our churches. He is the greatest draw in outreach. — “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” (Col. 1:15-18)

We do more, however, than merely point people to Jesus. We align with and depend on Him for without Him, the Church isn’t properly held together.

Basic #2 for Growing as a Church: Love God and One Another

Notice how the Body “grows and builds itself up in love” (Eph. 4:16). When people believe we truly care about them, it motivates them to want to be a part. Even more, when we help them know and rely on the love God has for them, they in turn love others (1 Jn. 4:16-19).

Jesus identified loving God with all of who we are and loving others (Matt. 22:37-40) as the greatest commandments. How can love, then, not be a part of the growth equation? Let’s purpose to love. It’s one of God’s ways to grow the Church.

Basic #3 of Ways to Grow the Church: Encourage and Equip People to Do Their Parts

The Body “grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph. 4:16). God designed the Church to function interdependently, not as a spectator sport. He also provides the empowerment needed to do our parts. — “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Pet. 4:10)

Teach about spiritual gifting and God’s design for the Body using something like the Everybody Has a Part Curriculum, to encourage people to do their parts. Also, however, equip them to serve effectively. Provide ministry training. — “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:11-13)

Let’s follow God’s ways to grow the Church.

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How Do Your Co-Workers View You?

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Daniel Thrown into Lion's Den Due to Jealousy of Co-workers
God miraculously delivered Daniel from the lions’ den, but why did they throw him in with the lions? True, Daniel continued to pray to God after the king’s decree forbidding everyone from praying to any god or human except the king for thirty days. The real reason, however, goes back further to what led to the king’s decree — to what was taking place in Daniel’s “workplace” with his co-workers.

How Daniel’s Co-Workers Viewed Him

Excelling in his job, Daniel received recognition, which made his co-workers jealous. To sabotage his success they wanted to bring an accusation against him “but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him” (Dan. 6:1-4).

Notice that they found “NO” negligence or corruption in him. That undoubtedly meant he didn’t justify even little breaks in integrity saying,

“It doesn’t hurt anything.”
“Nobody will notice.”
“Everybody’s doing it.”

Daniel’s co-workers concluded, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God” (Dan. 6:5). Since his character flowed from Daniel’s walk with God, his co-workers would have to manipulate the king into making a decree they knew Daniel wouldn’t keep because of his unwavering devotion to his God.

What Kind of Testimony Do You Have in the Workplace?

Think about how your co-workers view you. Would they characterize you similar to Daniel (Dan. 6:4)?

Faithful?

Can people depend on you do do your job and do it well? Do the words trustworthy, consistent, and dependable describe you in the workplace?

No Negligence?

Do you avoid making mistakes due to carelessness? Are you careful not to cut corners or gloss over errors but rather aim for excellence? Do the words conscientious, attentive, and careful describe you in the workplace?

No Corruption?

Do you maintain moral integrity, not even getting caught up in little white lies? Do the words honest and good describe you in the workplace?

Result of Such a Testimony

We probably won’t get thrown into a lions’ den because of jealous co-workers. We might, however, get ridiculed, even fired if we fail to comply with an immoral demand. Are you willing to suffer for righteousness’ sake? God may not “shut the mouths of the lions” (Dan. 6:22) as He did with Daniel. Sometimes He allows suffering to bring about a greater purpose, though we may not see it at the time

The approval of God way supersedes the approval of other people, so “even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed” (1 Pet. 3:14). Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matt. 5:10-12)

More on the Workplace

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