The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life
In yesterday’s post, Victory Over or Struggling With?, I asked: “Do we sometimes mistakenly convey the impression that applying biblical principles eliminates the battle, the struggle?” I also confessed that I struggle daily. I don’t always experience victory over, instead I experience struggle with, battling against, and victory in. 
How do we struggle daily in a godly way? There are many aspects of daily growth in grace (sanctification, Christian living) that I could highlight. (For a full theology of Christian living, check out Soul Physicians.) Today and tomorrow, I’ll highlight one sanctification process that I suspect we often neglect: praying the Lord’s Prayer. How do we pray the Lord’s Prayer as part of our daily struggle with and battle against suffering and sin?
I use the acrostic CHRIST as a memory guide for praying the Lord’s prayer. (For a two-page outline, download Your Daily Prayer Guide.
Prepare to Pray: Meditation—“Our Father Which Art in Heaven”
C Commune with God: Adoration—“Hallowed Be Thy Name”
H Honor the King: Intercession—“Thy Kingdom Come”
R Radically Commit: Submission/Direction—“Thy Will Be Done”
I Invite God-Rescue: Supplication—“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”
S Savor the Savior’s Grace: Confession—“Forgive Us Our Sins”
T Triumph Over Temptation: Petition—“Lead Us Not Into Temptation”
Confidently Trust God: Glorification—“For Thine Is the Kingdom”
Let’s take a brief look at what this might look like in real life. I’ll use one of my own struggles—trusting God with faith and living for Christ with courage in the midst of worry, stress, and fear.
Prepare to Pray: Meditation—“Our Father Which Art in Heaven”
Jesus encourages us to start not with ourselves, but with our Father. This doesn’t mean we ignore who we are and what we’re struggle with. It means we bring ourselves to our Father and we focus on Who He is.
“Our Father which art in heaven, I thank and praise You for Your holy love. You are all-powerful and all-loving. You are the Father who never leaves me or forsakes me. Help me to bask in Your fatherly grace. Help me to fan into flame the gift You’ve given. You have not given the spirit of timidity, but the spirit of power, love, and wisdom. You are our Father, so I ask You to encourage and empower all Your children today.”
C Commune with God: Adoration—“Hallowed Be Thy Name”
Again, Jesus points us to God and His glory.
“Father, hallowed be Thy name. May Your name be glorified today as an on-looking world sees me trusting You, clinging to You. May my life of faith in the midst of fear bring praise to Your name. May I live in awe of You so others live in awe of You. May I fear God and not man. May my mission statement today be to exalt You by enjoying You. Spirit of God, hover over me and empower me so my supreme desire today is God the Spring of Living water. I want to know You whether or not I know relief.”
H Honor the King: Intercession—“Thy Kingdom Come”
In Christ’s use of kingdom language, He is telling us to pray for a deepening of God’s rule in our hearts: surrendering to God’s governance. He is telling us to pray for a widening of God’s rule in all our hearts: for salvation. He is telling us to pray for an expanding of God’s rule on planet Earth.
“Father, Thy kingdom come. Empower me today to live for Your kingdom and not my own. I surrender all. All my anxieties, all my care, I bring to Your mercy seat and leave them there. May I be anxious for nothing (even as I feel anxiety for most everything) as I come to You humbly with prayer and supplication, making my requests known unto You. I cast my care upon You because You care for me. I yield to Your rule in my life. Under Your Providence not a single sparrow falls without Your awareness. Help me to seek first Your kingdom today. In my little pocket of the world, empower me to extend Your gracious governance.”
R Radically Commit: Submission/Direction—“Thy Will Be Done”
Jesus keeps us focused on Father. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” It is a prayer for right pleasure, calm assurance, clear discernment, radical obedience, and supernatural power, with brutal honesty.
“Father, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. My will is that I experience victory over. But if it is Your will that I maintain dependence on You in the midst of my struggle, then I will Your will. Father, encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, ‘take courage, fear not. Behold Your God.’ Father, I give You my confusion, my doubts, my fears, my perplexities. In the midst of them all, empower me with supernatural power to do Your will for Your glory. By Your Spirit grant me the calm assurance that Your glory and my good are inseparable. Cleans my heart so that all I do is motivated by the desire to bring You pleasure. Renew my mind so I have the discernment to know Your will and to pursue it with courage and radical obedience. This warrior is a child—Your adult child. May I walk in the awareness that You have not given me a spirit of fear, but the Spirit of sonship, so I can cry, ‘Abba, Father!’”
The Rest of the Story
There’s more to come, more to pray. I invite you back tomorrow into a glimpse of my story of God’s story. Lord willing.
Join the Conversation
With whatever struggle you’re experiencing, what would it sound like for you to pray the Lord’s Prayer for your stuggle today?
