Have you ever stood in a church service and like some mechanical drone recited these words: "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 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."

Then you walked away with no understanding of the kingdom, no power and no glory of God in your life. Sound familiar?

This passage is what is commonly called the Lord's Prayer, found in Matthew 6:9-13. Yet what Jesus gave here is actually an outline of how to approach God and is more accurately a model prayer. Let's consider what it reveals.

Start with proper focus and priorities

Taking a careful look at this model prayer, we see that Jesus says to begin your prayer by honoring God. How many times have you started your talk with God with the "gimmes"? You know—give me a new car, give me a new job, give me a new house . . .

Jesus said to begin your prayer with praise for God's greatness. Many times we approach the awesome God as if He were a genie in a bottle waiting to grant us our wishes, instead of with an attitude of humble worship that is due the Creator of the universe.

Jesus next said to pray, "Your kingdom come." We must long for God's rule to be established throughout this earth—and in our own lives today.

What are the important priorities in your life? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His followers not to have anxious worry about their physical appearance or clothing. He told them to look at God's creation and see the power, love and genius of the Creator and trust in Him.

In Matthew 6:33, Jesus told His disciples not to fret over daily needs but to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." God blesses those who have set His priorities in their lives.

If you don't see God's blessings in your life, you should ask yourself, "Are God's priorities the main priorities in my life?"

If you're going to have God fulfill His purpose in your life, then everything you do must be founded on two simple principles. Jesus said that the two greatest commandments are to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" and to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-40). These two commandments must be the basis of all your priorities if you want to receive God's blessings.

A matter of unconditional surrender

In the model prayer we are next told to pray, "Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."

At the Battle of Fort Donelson during the American Civil War, the Confederate general asked for terms of surrender. The Union commander Ulysses Simpson Grant answered, "No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted." After that it was said that Grant's first two initials, U.S., stood for "Unconditional Surrender."

In your relationship with your Creator, He grants you no terms except unconditional surrender. Unconditional surrender means to give up control over your own life and give your life to God. Handing over control of your life to God is daunting.

How can you have the courage to unconditionally surrender your life to God? Think of the most exciting sporting event you ever watched when your favorite team won. Remember the anxiety and emotional ups and downs as the game hung in the balance.

Now think about watching the highlights of that game later. You experienced excitement, maybe even wanting to see the game repeated over and over, but the anxiety of possible defeat was gone. It's the same players, the same drama, but the difference is that you know the outcome.

To accept God's will in your life, you must have faith in His promised outcome for you. When you have that kind of trust in God, His power is unleashed in your life. It's not always easy, but God will be with you through all the ups and downs, and He will ensure the final victory.

Next Jesus said to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." It's important that we take our physical needs to God. But notice, you do this after you have honored Him and asked for His will in your life. God wants you to bring your job needs, bodily aches and pains, family problems and financial difficulties to Him for wisdom and counsel. He wants to intervene in your life to make every day a wonderful, spiritual adventure, but first you must acknowledge Him as the source of your life and blessings.

Looking again to Matthew 6:33, if we put God and His way first, He will see to it that all our needs are met.

Forgive to be forgiven

Next in the prayer outline Christ gave, we are told to ask God, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." The debt here is what we owe for the sin we've committed—essentially personal suffering and death. In a similar passage, Luke 11:4 records Jesus' words as "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us" or, as the New International Version interprets this, "everyone who sins against us."

Thankfully, God offers us forgiveness for the terrible things we've done against Him. In return He expects all of us to extend forgiveness to others.

Forgiveness is giving up the emotional need to punish someone who has treated us in a hurtful way. A disciple of Jesus named Peter realized that to forgive someone seven times was remarkable. Jesus told him to forgive a great deal more than that (Matthew 18:21-22). Forgiving others isn't easy, but you will never experience true peace of mind until you do.

Jesus explained the need for forgiving others in a parable about a man who owed a king a great amount of money. The man was brought before the king and begged for time to get the money together. The king, out of the goodness of his heart, showed the man mercy and forgave his debt.

This man then went out and found another man who owed him a small debt. The second man begged for time, but the forgiven man demanded payment and threw the second man into debtors' prison. The king found out and told the man whom he'd forgiven, "Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?" He then turned the man over to suffering until he paid what had previously been forgiven him.

Explaining the point of the story, Jesus warned, "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses" (Matthew 18:23-35).

When you refuse to give up the desire for revenge, you not only twist your own emotions into anger and bitterness, you damage your ability to respond to God's forgiveness. Once you become obsessed with the wrong someone else has done, you start down a long road of anger and despair.

What, then, must you do? Consciously decide to not dwell on the offenses of others. You must replace the thoughts of hurtful treatment from others with positive thoughts of God in your life.

Break the bonds

We are next instructed in the model prayer to ask, "Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." The wording in the first part of this verse can be misleading, since God tempts no one (James 1:13). Instead, "each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed" (verse 14).

The Greek word translated "temptation" here would be more accurately rendered as "trial" or "test"—as in the New Revised Standard Version, which words this as "do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one."

The intent of Christ's words is twofold: first, that we should understand we have an unseen spiritual enemy, Satan the devil (1 Peter 5:8), from whom we need to ask God for His protection and help; and second, that we might be humble and teachable enough to learn our lessons now so we won't have to be put through sore trials to be corrected.

We must be aware that Satan will use our weaknesses against us. Perhaps your weakness is an uncontrollable temper, sexual lust, resentment toward your spouse, envy, alcohol abuse or—you fill in the blank. Satan wants to enslave us to sin, but God wants to break whatever bonds tie us down. Take your weakness to God and ask Him to protect you from situations that will tempt you to sin and from the tricks and temptations of the devil.

Jesus ends His prayer outline with an expression of confidence in God's ability to answer the prayer: "for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." Thus, your prayer is to end by once again praising God.

This model prayer isn't a magic formula where you recite the special words and power is released in your life. It is an outline teaching you how to have a personal relationship with your Creator. When you have trouble praying, use this outline to personalize your talk with your Creator. Learn to pray as Jesus prayed! GN