Praying the Lord's Prayer in Times of Trial

Last week we talked about the fact that when God gives us something to do, we always face three trials.

• The temptation to rely on our own abilities, skills, and strength to do what it is that God has put on our plate, rather than trusting God for provision.


• The temptation to try to control the timetable for what God has given us to do, rather than surrendering to God’s timing.


• The temptation to worship other things or even to cease to worship God, rather than worshipping him and serving him alone.

I find that when I regularly include the Lord’s Prayer in my times of worship, following the example of Christians throughout the centuries in praying the prayer Jesus gave to the disciples, I find strength and assurance for dealing with the three trials.  

The Lord’s Prayer provides this strength and assurance for many reasons.

• It’s an act of providing worship to God that we can do without props or other people – we know it by heart.


• It embodies the essence of our relationship with God.


• It specifically addresses all three trials, and the temptations themselves.


• It naturally causes us to spend time in meditation as we are led to expand on the key truths and relate them to our current situations.


• The sense of ritual, praying the same thoughts that Jesus and his followers have prayed for centuries, produces a sense of belonging and peace that is priceless.  I think that’s why reverting to the old King James phrasing comforts so many of us – it’s timeless.


• Praying the Lord’s Prayer focuses our consciousness on God.

Here are some thoughts that invariably enter my heart as I pray the Lord’s Prayer.

Our Father, which art in Heaven reminds me that I have a loving Abba as near as the air that surrounds me and which I breathe.

Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven speaks to the war with all of its battles that is raging here on Earth, and the fact that I am aligning myself with God’s side, wanting his name to become holy, his kingdom rule to prevail, and his desires to be followed on this Earth, just as they are in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread reminds me that God is my provider for everything, even what I eat, and that further, all that I need to be concerned about is today’s provision.  Life is a day-at-a-time journey.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us recognizes that I fail in word and action to respect and honor God just as others fail to respect and honor me, and that my relationship with God is kept intact by his forgiveness of my trespasses just as my relationship with other people is kept intact by my forgiving their wrongs against me.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil reminds me that my heart and mind are the battleground for the war that is raging between good and evil, and that I need Abba to guide my steps and provide my deliverance.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forevermore reassures me that God is in charge, that he is the source of all strength, and that he gets credit for everything – and that I’m not in charge, am not the source of strength, nor worthy of any credit.

Amen is my affirmation that I want all of this to be so, and that therefore I am surrendering myself to him.

You’ll find this familiar prayer in Matthew 6:9-13.  Pray it and meditate on it regularly during the day.  Your worship to God in this way will do much to help you persevere through the trials that naturally come when God has given you something to do.