Take your Bibles and turn to Luke 11. Today I'm preaching on verses so familiar most of you could quote them - they are what is commonly called "the Lord's prayer".

But here's the problem with familiar passages: we stop really seeing them. We're like someone who lives near the mountains and stops noticing their beauty.

Let's read the verses:

[!bible] Luke 11:1-4 - KJV

1. And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
2. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
3. Give us day by day our daily bread.
4. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

These aren't just familiar words - this is Jesus' clearest teaching on the subject of prayer.

Most of the disciples of Jesus were disciples of John the Baptist first. Remember, John the Baptist was a miracle baby, he was filled with the Holy Spirit before He was even born, and he was a mighty and fearless preacher of righteousness - but apparently, John the Baptist was also a prayer warrior and he spent a lot of time teaching his disciples to pray.

As the disciples watched Jesus, they watched Him pray. No one ever prayed like Jesus.

Jesus prayed:

• At His baptism (3:21)
• Before he chose the 12 (6:12)
• When the crowds increased (5:16)
• Before he asked the 12 for a confession of faith (9:18)
• At his transfiguration (9:29)

It's interesting, the disciples watched Jesus heal and cast out demons and command the sea - but they didn't say "teach us to do miracles." They watched Jesus teach like no one ever taught and they never asked "teach us to preach." But they saw Jesus' prayer life and they understood that that was the source of Jesus' power and so they said "Teach us to pray."

And Jesus obliged. This chapter is Jesus' master class on prayer.

And I'll be honest: despite years of studying prayer, I think I've been missing the point. Because this isn't a rote prayer to repeat mindlessly. Jesus taught this pattern in different ways at different times, which means he was giving us a framework, not a formula.

And when we understand this framework, it will revolutionize how we pray.

Most of our prayers are pretty rudimentary and pretty self-centered. We bring God a laundry list of to-do items. One write said that our prayers are like a slightly more refined list of the wants we would write for Santa when we were kids.

If that is the case, Jesus' model prayer here shows us that we are completely missing the point of prayer. This model prayer - this "Lord's prayer" is actually five different prayer requests. Jesus was teaching us as His disciples to pray for five different things, and in truth, we probably only regularly pray for one of them.

This morning, we aren't going to get through all five prayer requests - because that is probably too much for us to take in at once - but I do want to cover the introduction and the first two prayer reqeusts.

So that is going to be my message this morning - the first two things we should pray for, let's pray and then we will get into it.

Father, please be glorified today as we consider the words from your book, may we become more obedient to your rule in our life as we look at your word. Give us exactly what we need today as we look at the Bible. Forgive us Lord where we have fallen short, and lead us and help us we pray. We ask this in Jesus' name - Amen.

Before we get into what we should pray for, Jesus teaches us who we should pray to.

The prayer starts with "Our father which art in heaven" - and I don't want us to miss that.

Do you know that the jews did not ever talk to God as their father. There are a few references in the Old Testament where they referred to God as the father of the nation. But they never would talk about God as their father personally. That was way too informal for them.

But Jesus constantly referred to God as "Father." All of Jesus' prayers addressed God as "Father." He used "Father" more than 60 times in reference to God in gospels - and that makes sense because Jesus was God's "only begotten son".

But Jesus here teaches us to refer to God as our familiar father.
This wasn't just a casual change in terminology - this was earth-shattering. Jesus was teaching His disciples that they could approach the God of the universe with the same intimacy that He did.

The God who spoke the stars into existence, who parted the Red Sea, who struck down entire armies - this God wants to be called 'Father' by you and me.

And He's not just 'Father' - He's 'Our Father which art in heaven.' This isn't your earthly father who might be absent, or unreliable, or limited in what he can do. This is your heavenly Father who rules from the ultimate position of authority. He has all power, all resources, all wisdom.

Think about what this means for your prayers. You're not approaching a distant deity hoping He might notice you. You're not begging a reluctant judge to hear your case. You're talking to your Father - who loves you, who has infinite resources, and who sits on the throne of the universe.

We are to pray to "our father - which art in heaven" but what are we to ask Him for?

I told you already there are five requests. I'm only going to give you the first two today. We'll cover the next three next week.

The first thing Jesus teaches us to "our Father which art in heaven" for is...

1. We should pray for God's glory

Jesus said When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Here is my first big misunderstanding of this text. I've always thought this was some form of formal address. Like we are trying to butter up God before we ask Him for things.

But that isn't what this is at all. What this actually is a prayer request. If we were to put it in a bit more modern language, we would say "Our Father who is in heaven, may your name be hallowed" or "Make your name holy."

Mike McKinley put it like this:

It is important to recognize that Jesus is not teaching us to tell God in prayer that his name is holy. This is a request, not a statement about what is already true. When we pray "hallowed be your name" we are asking God to make the world honor his name as holy. It is a way of making God's glory and fame our highest priority. We are asking him to make his holiness known and cherished throughout the world...the highest priority of prayer is the glory of God.

Our prayers should start with this concern - that God be glorified. That the world look to God and honor Him.

Listen, I can tell you, God's name is not glorified in our world today. Almost every day at work, I hear someone, often someone who claims to be a Christian use the name of God flippantly or as a curse word. And nobody bats an eye.

For many today, the name of God is a joke. And that is just a symptom of a bigger problem - our world does not glorify God, they do not honor God, they do not revere God.

When we pray "Hallowed be thy name" we are asking God that He work in such a way that people see His goodness, His power, His love and give Him the honor that He deserves. We are asking God to be big in people's lives.

And here is where it get's personal:

Do you understand how this changes everything? We are asking God to be big in the world, and that means He must be big in our life? Big in our home. Big in our church.

• Am I living in a way that brings honor and glory to God?
• Does my marriage make people think more highly of God?
• Does the way I live at work make people think more highly of God?
• Is the way I am responding to difficulty and hardship glorifying God?

By making God's glory our biggest prayer request we realign our goals and priorities.

The old puritans had it right when they wrote the first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism:

What is the chief end of man? Answer: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

By making God's glory our number 1 prayer request - we are reminding ourselves that God's glory is the most important thing - it is our "chief end."

So the number one thing we should be praying for is that God be glorified.

• When God's glory is our highest priority, we don't care about our own glory. We aren't trying to make a big name for ourselves, we are trying to make a big name for God. It's' not "Hallowed by my name" but "Hallowed by thy name."
• When God's' glory is our highest priority, we can rejoice when we see other people come to Christ, even if we had nothing to do with it. God's glory removes human competition from the equation.
• When God's glory is our highest priority, we can handle criticism and opposition differently. Our life isn't wrapped up in what people think about us - but what people think about God.
• When God's glory is our highest priority, we can be generous without expecting anything in return. We give our time, our money, our talents not to get credit or tax deductions, but because generous people make God look good.
• When God's glory is our highest priority, we aren't looking for attention - we are trying to bring attention to God. We're not posting on social media to get likes and comments about how spiritual we are. We're living in such a way that people notice something different and want to know more about our God.
• When God's glory is our highest priority, we can serve behind the scenes without feeling unappreciated. We don't need the spotlight or the thank-you note because we're serving an audience of One. Whether it's cleaning up after church events, visiting nursing homes, or helping with children's ministry - we do it for God's glory, not human recognition.

Do you see how this prayer request changes everything? Do you see how it clarifies our mission and goals?

Hallowed be thy name.

But there are four more prayer requests Jesus taught us to have, and we need to look at one more today...

2. We should pray for God's rule

Jesus said "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth."

The second thing Jesus taught us to pray for is that the whole world would learn to obey our God - that He would rule the world, like He rules heaven.

That's what kingdom means. We aren't praying that a place would come to earth - we are praying that a government would come to earth - that God would rule the world like He rules heaven.

In heaven, God is completely obeyed. God's will is done perfectly, immediately and joyfully. And because of that - heaven is heaven. We are praying that the same reality would happen on this earth.

Again, this changes everything. Because if we are honest with ourselves a lot of us don't think that God's rule of the earth would be a good thing.

• We want God's blessings, but we're not so sure about God's authority.
• We want Him to fix our problems, but we don't want Him telling us how to live.
• We want heaven's benefits without heaven's government.

But here is what we are missing - the rule of God is not a burden, it is a blessing. When God rules our lives, the result isn't oppression, it is paradise. Perfect justice, perfect peace, perfect joy.

When we say "thy kingdom come" we are acknowledging that the greatest thing that could happen in this world is for God to rule it and to rule it completely.

And again, if we really think this out, it get's personal. How hypocritical is it for us to pray "God, I want you to rule the world" but not want God to rule our own life?

When we pray "thy kingdom come" we aren't just asking God to straighten out Washington and to fix everyone else's problems - we are asking God to rule our life.

So here is a question - is there any area of your life is not submitted to God's kingdom?

Maybe it's your money. You want God to bless your finances, but you don't want Him telling you how to spend. You'll pray for a raise, but you won't tithe. You'll ask God to help you get out of debt, but you won't stop the impulse buying.

Maybe it's your relationships. You want God to fix your marriage, but you don't want Him changing your heart. You want your kids to be obedient, but you resist being obedient to God yourself. You want God to deal with difficult people in your life, but you don't want Him dealing with your own difficult attitudes.

Maybe it's your entertainment. You want God's peace and joy, but you fill your mind with things that grieve His heart. You want His purity in your life, but you won't surrender the remote control or the smartphone.

Maybe it's your career. You want God to open doors and give you success, but you won't work with integrity when no one's looking. You want His blessing on your business, but you won't conduct it by His principles.

Here's the beautiful irony - the areas where we resist God's rule are exactly the areas where we're most miserable. We think we know better than God how to run our lives, but look how that's working out.

When we truly pray "thy kingdom come," we're saying "God, I want your perfect will in my life, even when it's hard, even when I don't understand it, because I trust that your rule is always better than my rebellion."

Conclusion

Let me ask you - what do your prayers sound like?

Do they start with "God, here's my list of problems, please fix them"? Or do they start with "God, how can you be glorified today? How can your kingdom come in my life?"

Jesus gave us this pattern because He knew that when we get the first two requests right - when God's glory and God's rule become our highest priorities - everything else falls into place.

When we're more concerned about God's reputation than our own comfort, when we're more committed to His kingdom than our own plans, then we can pray about our needs, our forgiveness, and our struggles from the right perspective.

This isn't just a better way to pray - this is a better way to live. When God's glory and God's rule become our driving concerns, it transforms our marriages, our parenting, our work, our money, our goals.

Next week, we're going to look at the last three requests - praying for our needs, praying for forgiveness, and praying for help in temptation. But don't wait until next week to start praying differently.

Today, pray. Start there. Pray.

But when you pray, start with God's glory and God's rule and go from there. It will change the way you pray and change the way you live.

Let's pray together.