God, in His magnificence, knew that there would be many times when we wouldn't have the wisdom to pray as we should, so He commissioned the Holy Spirit to intercede for us.
In Romans 8:26, Paul wrote, "We do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words" (NASB). And that is why in Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus gave His disciples a succinct, meticulous, and comprehensive outline of what true prayer should be like—the Lord's Prayer.
Jesus wants us to learn to follow the Lord's Prayer as a pattern of praise, adoration, and petition.
In Matthew 6:9, Jesus said, "Pray, then, in this way" (NASB), meaning "along these lines" or "in such a pattern." Still, we must remember that in Matthew 6:5-8, Jesus warned His followers not to pray like the Pharisees, who used meaningless, repetitious prayer. To be clear, He is not replacing one meaningless, repetitious prayer with another. Instead, Jesus is giving them—and us—a model. Jesus wants us to learn to follow the Lord's Prayer as a pattern of praise, adoration, and petition. It is a guide for our prayer life—not a substitute for it.
When we understand this guide and use it, we will experience power in prayer like we've never experienced before.
Prayer: Father, thank You for showing us how we should pray. Help me to grow in my prayer life as I study the model You have given us. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
"Pray, then, in this way" (Matthew 6:9, NASB).
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