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How we ought to pray

A study of the popularly known as The Lord's Prayer reveals how we ought to pray as, instructed by our Messiah himself. Simple yet effective.

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Pray. How should we pray? To whom are we praying to? What are the parts of a prayer? These are the questions that we should be asking. This is a very important subject as we were told all throughout the Scripture that we must pray.

In this post, we will analyse the popularly called “The Lord’s Prayer”.

“The Lord’s Prayer”

Christianity has called this prayer as The Lord’s Prayer but in truth, it is not. If we read the whole chapter, our Master and Messiah, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤅𐤏 (Yahushua) (learn why “Yahushua”), was teaching us by giving an example of a prayer. He was not praying; and it was not meant to be repeated endlessly.

“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the pagans do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.”

Mattithyahu (Matthew) 6:7, Literal English Version

What was our Messiah 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤅𐤏 (Yahushua)’s instruction on how we should pray? It is all in the example prayer he gave us. We do not need to repeat this example prayer, what we need is to understand the parts of a meaningful prayer and pray that way, as 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤅𐤏 (Yahushua) instructed.

9 “After this manner therefore pray ye: ‘Our Father who established yeshu’ah in the heavens, Exalted is your name. 10 Your Kingdom come. Your will be done in earth, as in the heavens. 11 Give us this day our daily את eth-bread. 12 And forgive us our transgressions, as we forgive those who transgress against us. 13 And lead us not into the evil inclination, but deliver us from the outer darkness: For yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amein.’”

Mattithyahu (Matthew) 6:9-13, eth-Cepher

9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in the heavens, may Your Name be set-apart. 10 Let Your kingdom come. Let Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us each day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory to the ages. Amein.]’”

Mattithyahu (Matthew) 6:9-13, Literal English Version

Parts of A Meaningful Prayer

In the example prayer 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤅𐤏 (Yahushua) gave, a lot of things were very clear. Let’s analyse each and establish a common ground.

Praise Our Father and His Name

9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in the heavens, may Your Name be set-apart.’”

Mattithyahu (Matthew) 6:9, Literal English Version

We pray to the Father who is in the heavens. We are also to exalt or set-apart the Name of the Father in heaven. Yahushua did not teach that we should pray to him. He never said, “Our Messiah who is in the heavens, exalt be Your Name Yahushua”.

Now how can we exalt the Father’s Name if we do not know His Name? If we believe, according to Christianity, that the Father’s Name was “lost [in translation]”, then how can we exalt His Name? We can not. The Father’s Name was never “lost”, His Name was hidden from us by those who think that [1] it is their job to protect the set-apart Name of the Father; and/or [2] they do not want us to call on the name of the Father because He is the Most High and we are not worthy.

To keep us within our subject today, the Father’s Name is 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (modern Hebrew: יהוה) pronounced in Hebrew as “yah-hu-ah” and is transliterated as “YAHUAH”, “YaHuWaH”, or “YHWH”. (It will be discussed in-depth in another post.)

Acknowledge and Submit to Our Father

The next part of a meaningful prayer is acknowledging and submitting to His authority and power.

10 “‘Let Your kingdom come. Let Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’”

Mattithyahu (Matthew) 6:10, Literal English Version

We are acknowledging that His kingdom is the one true kingdom; and we are submitting to His will, that it be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Prayer is asking, have anyone of us asked from someone with heads held high? No, we humble ourselves whenever we ask for something. Prayer is no different, in fact, dictionaries define it as such.

Pray. adverb; formal; archaic: used as a preface to polite requests or instructions.

Examples: “pray continue”; “Pray tell, why you have come all this way?”

Prayer is asking. Requesting politely. Humbly. Thus, when praying, the second thing we must do is to humble ourselves and submit to our Father’s will.

Ask for Bread (Sustenance)

11 “‘Give us this day our daily את eth-bread.’”

Mattithyahu (Matthew) 6:11, eth-Cepher

In most translations, verse 12 was simply translated as Give us each day our daily bread [Literal English Version]. The first impression is the literal bread or food. It could even be money because how can we buy food without it. We are asking for blessings, in other words.

There is nothing wrong with this understanding of this verse. However, in the Hebrew language, there is a deeper meaning to this “bread” when it is read from its original written language. The eth-Cepher translation preserved this as shown: את eth-bread.

The Hebrew letters are the Aleph and Tau. The First and the Last. With the “eth” left intact in the translation, the bread was not just a literal bread or money or blessing but rather the everlasting bread, which is the Word of our Father who is in heaven.

Who is the Word of our Father 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH)?

1 In the beginning was the word, and the word was with Elohim, and the word was Elohim. 2 The same was in the beginning with Elohim. 3 All things came into being through Him. Without Him nothing has come into being, that has come to be. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

14 And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us. We saw His glory, glory as of an only begotten with a father, full of favor and truth.

Yahuhanan (John) 1:1-5; 14, Literal English Version

Who is the Bread of Life?

35 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤅𐤏 said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will not be hungry, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”

Yahuhanan (John) 6:35, Literal English Version

51 “I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live to the age. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

Yahuhanan (John) 6:51, Literal English Version

We ask our Father in heaven to give us our daily bread. It means, we ask 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YAHUAH) to teach us daily, to give us His Word, that we may grow spiritually and have the power to trample on snakes and scorpions, and to overcome all the power of the enemy (Lukas (Luke) 10:19; Ephesious (Ephesians) 6:11).

Confess our sins and forgive others

12 “‘And forgive us our transgressions, as we forgive those who transgress against us.’”

Mattithyahu (Matthew) 6:12, eth-Cepher

It is by studying His Word (Bread) that we are faced with the truth of our sins. We then ask for forgiveness as we also forgive those who have wronged us. We can not have anger and bitterness in our hearts when our Father has forgiven us of our own transgressions against Him, our Creator. We can not hold those people who have wronged us in bondage, in chains, when our Father in heaven has set us free by forgiving us of our sins against Him.

Part of a meaningful prayer is to ask for forgiveness as we forgive others who have wronged us.

Ask for Protection and Deliverance

13 “‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’”

Mattithyahu (Matthew) 6:13, Literal English Version

Last but definitely not the least, we ask for protection from temptations. Yes, when we are tempted, we have not yet sinned. It is by falling into that temptation that we sin. However, in this example prayer that Yahushua taught us, there is no doubt that we can ask our Father in heaven to protect us from temptations. No temptations, no chance of us sinning. It is better that way than having temptations every moment of our lives.

We are also to ask for deliverance from evil. Evil comes in many forms, we ask deliverance from it all. Examples are being a victim of hold-up, robbery, or worst, murdered. Or getting sick, acquiring a disease, or accidents. These things are evil, these things are not natural and definitely not from above. We ask for deliverance from it all.

5 Parts of a Meaningful Prayer

  1. Praise Our Father and His Name
  2. Acknowledge and Submit to Our Father
  3. Ask for Bread (Sustenance)
  4. Confess our sins and forgive others
  5. Ask for Protection and Deliverance

Close by Praising

13 [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory to the ages. Amein.]

Mattithyahu (Matthew) 6:13, Literal English Version

We close our prayer by giving back all the glory and thanks to our Father in heaven. For indeed, His is the kingdom, His is the power, and His is the glory, forever and ever. Amein.


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