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Closed Mouths Don't Get Fed: The Lord's Prayer

Writer's picture: Eboni JohnsonEboni Johnson

Today we are reading from the book Pray First: The Transformative Power of a Life Built on Prayer again, but this time we're talking about prayer.


Many of us overcomplicate and overthink it, but in his book, Chris Hodges dissects the Lord's Prayer. He provides an outline for how to pray to God, should we ever feel lost and not know what to say.


The Lord's Prayer:

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.

Matthew 6:9-13 NKJV


Christ gave us an outline with seven distinct aspects of prayer (Hodges, 2022, 78).


Our Father in Heaven-- Respect and Intimacy

"...we should begin by calling God our Father, which Jesus implies may be His favorite title.

It's warm and personal, familiar and comfortable" (Hodges, 2022, 78).

"... your relationship with Him begins with a right view of God. Addressing Him as your Father still shows respect but accurately demonstrates your access and closeness.

God loves for us to come to Him in this same way-- as children who love Him and want to spend time with Him" (Hodges, 2022, 79).

Read Romans 8:15


Hallowed be Your Name-- Start with Worship

"Hallow means to revere, bless, and honor. Basically, we are to worship God's name" (Hodges, 2022, 79).

"... we should worship not just one but all of God's many names... I usually include seven of His names when I pray: Righteousness, sanctifies, Healer, Banner of Victory, Shepherd, Peace, and Provider" (Hodges, 2022, 80).

"When you pray, worshiping God for who He is should always be part of your conversation with Him" (Hodges, 2022, 80-81).

Read Proverbs 18:10


Your kingdom come-- Pray the Father's Agenda First

"So often we jump right in by asking God for what we want before even considering what He wants. Have you ever considered how rude it is to ask all the time?

By acknowledging His kingdom and His will and praying that they would extend from heaven to earth, we're respecting that His ways are always better than ours" (Hodges, 2022, 81).

Read Luke 12:31


Give us this day-- Depend on Him for Everything

"Now that we've spent time with our attention solely on God, we can bring up our concerns, our needs, and our requests.

We can make known our petitions and express our dependence on Him as the source of everything we have" (Hodges, 2022, 82).

"... when we pray 'give us,' we're acknowledging that God has everything we need" (Hodges, 2022, 82).

"God wants to give His children good gifts. We simply need to acknowledge our dependence on God and then make our requests known to Him. He already knows what we need, but relying on Him for our daily bread keeps us humble, grateful, and secure in our faith" (Hodges, 2022, 84).

Read Psalm 121:1-2


Forgive us our debts-- Get Your Heart Right

"First, we confess our sins and shortcomings to God and ask Him to purify our hearts and attitudes. Then the emphasis shifts to how we reflect this forgiveness with other people" (Hodges, 2022, 84).

"... we need to get our hearts right with God and with people" (Hodges, 2022, 84).

"When we ask God's forgiveness here, we want Him to search us and reveal those dark places in our hearts that we can't or don't want to see.

The goal here is to make sure we stay sensitive to sin, to anything that can come between us and God" (Hodges, 2022, 84).

"Forgiveness keeps the lines of communication open between you and God as well as between you and other people" (Hodges, 2022, 85).


Deliver us-- Spiritual Warfare

"We will face temptation presented by the enemy today, so we need God's help to resist and stand strong in our faith.

God does not lead us to sin... but He can fortify us and empower us to resist the traps the devil is waiting to spring on us" (Hodges, 2022, 86).

Read Ephesians 6:12


Kingdom, Power, and Glory-- A Catalyst for your Faith

"... Jesus instructs us to conclude where we began by expressing faith in God's ability" (Hodges, 2022, 87).

"... when we pray this way, we're reminding ourselves of how amazing, limitless, and glorious He is in every way" (Hodges, 2022, 87).



"You don't have to be formal and approach Him like a stern judge or unknowable entity-- you can talk to Him like your Daddy who knows you and loves you" (Hodges, 2022, 89).

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