# The Lord's Prayer Explained: How Jesus Taught Us To Pray - Canonical: https://www.iamreborn.net/blog/the-lords-prayer-explained - Author: Daniel Ziedins (https://www.iamreborn.net/about-daniel-ziedins) - Published: 2026-10-18 - Reading time: 4 minutes ## Short answer The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13) is the pattern Jesus gave when His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. It moves in order: come to God as Father (“Our Father in heaven”), start with worship (“hallowed be your name”), surrender to His purposes (“your kingdom come, your will be done”), ask for today's needs (“daily bread”), confess sin and forgive others, and ask for protection (“lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”). The ending “For thine is the kingdom” isn't in the earliest manuscripts of Matthew. The disciples watched Jesus heal the sick, calm storms and silence critics. But the one thing they asked Him to teach them was this: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). They had seen how He prayed, and they wanted that. His answer is the most famous prayer in the world. Many of us learned it by heart as children and can recite it without thinking. That's exactly the danger. Jesus didn't give it to be rattled off; He gave it as a pattern — a map for every prayer you'll ever pray. > Pray then like this: “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 also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” > > — Matthew 6:9–13 Just before this, Jesus warned against heaping up “empty phrases” as if God listens to the longest prayer (Matthew 6:7). So “pray _like this_” doesn't only mean “say these words.” It means: pray in this shape. Here it is, line by line. ## “Our Father in heaven” Prayer starts with relationship, not performance. You're not approaching a distant power or an unpredictable boss. You're coming to a Father — and through Jesus, _your_ Father (Romans 8:15). “In heaven” keeps the other half of the truth: He is near, and He is also above everything. Intimacy and awe together. And it's _our_ Father, not _my_ Father. Even when you pray alone, you pray as part of a family. ## “Hallowed be your name” To hallow is to treat as holy. Before you ask God for anything, you ask that He would be honoured — in your life, your city, the world. This line reorders your priorities before you get to your requests. Practically: start with worship. Thank Him for who He is before you talk about what you need. ## “Your kingdom come, your will be done” This is the most dangerous line in the prayer, because it means your kingdom and your will take second place. You're asking God's rule to break into the places it isn't yet seen — “on earth as it is in heaven.” Pray it over your home, your work, your relationships, your nation. And pray it over your own plans, holding them open-handed (see [How Do I Know God's Will For My Life?](https://www.iamreborn.net/blog/how-to-know-gods-will-for-your-life)). ## “Give us this day our daily bread” Only now do we ask for our needs — and Jesus says ask. Nothing is too ordinary to bring to God: rent, groceries, health, a job. But notice the scale: _this day_, _daily_ bread. Not a year's supply. It's a prayer of daily dependence, like Israel gathering manna each morning (Exodus 16). ## “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” Every day we need forgiveness, and every day we're invited to receive it (1 John 1:9). But this line ties two things together. Jesus immediately adds that if we refuse to forgive others, we show we haven't understood the forgiveness we've received (Matthew 6:14–15). Who do you need to release today? ([How To Forgive Someone Who Hurt You](https://www.iamreborn.net/blog/how-to-forgive-someone-who-hurt-you) can help.) ## “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” This is a prayer for protection. It admits we're weak and the battle is real. We're asking God to keep us out of situations we can't handle and to rescue us from the evil one. It's the humblest line in the prayer, and one of the most practical to pray every morning before you face the day. > The Lord's Prayer isn't a spell to recite. It's a shape to pray in: God first, His kingdom next, then your needs, your sins, and your protection. ## What about “For thine is the kingdom…”? Many people end the prayer with “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” That ending appears in the King James Version and is prayed in many churches, but it isn't found in the earliest manuscripts of Matthew, so most modern translations put it in a footnote. It's a beautiful, biblical way to finish — it echoes 1 Chronicles 29:11 — just not part of what Jesus originally taught. ## How to pray it this week 1. **Pray it slowly, once a day.** Stop after each line and add your own words to it. 2. **Use it as an outline.** Father (draw near) → hallowed (worship) → kingdom (surrender) → bread (needs) → forgive (confession and release) → deliver (protection). 3. **Pray it for others.** Put a friend's name in it: “Give Sarah her daily bread. Deliver Sarah from evil.” 4. **Pray it when you have no words.** On the hardest days, these words carry you when your own run out ([more on that here](https://www.iamreborn.net/blog/how-to-pray-when-you-dont-know-what-to-say)). **The Lord's Prayer as a pattern** - **Our Father in heaven** — come as a child, with awe. - **Hallowed be your name** — start with worship. - **Your kingdom come, your will be done** — surrender your plans. - **Daily bread** — ask for today's needs. - **Forgive us, as we forgive** — confess and release. - **Lead us, deliver us** — ask for protection. [Pray it with today's Reborn Reset](https://www.iamreborn.net/#reset) — Four moves — spirit, mind, body, purpose — in about five minutes. ## Frequently asked questions ### What does the Lord's Prayer mean? It is a pattern for all prayer: drawing near to God as Father, honouring His name, surrendering to His kingdom and will, asking for daily needs, receiving forgiveness and forgiving others, and asking for protection from temptation and evil. ### Is “For thine is the kingdom” in the Bible? It appears in the King James Version and is widely prayed, but it isn't found in the earliest manuscripts of Matthew, so most modern translations place it in a footnote. It echoes 1 Chronicles 29:11. ### Should I pray the Lord's Prayer word for word? You can — it's a gift to pray Jesus' own words. But He gave it as a pattern (“pray like this”) and warned against empty repetition (Matthew 6:7), so it's also meant to shape your own prayers. ### Where is the Lord's Prayer in the Bible? Matthew 6:9–13, in the Sermon on the Mount, and a shorter version in Luke 11:2–4, where the disciples ask, “Lord, teach us to pray.” --- From the Reborn Journal at I AM REBORN — https://www.iamreborn.net/blog/the-lords-prayer-explained