BibleProject | the Lord's PrayerSample

The Lord’s Prayer as a Story

Welcome to the first day of the Lord’s Prayer reading plan. Every day, we will meditate on and pray through the full prayer, focusing on a different line each day. But before we get into the individual lines of the prayer, we’ll reflect more broadly and look at the prayer as a story embedded within a larger story. So we begin by wondering: What exactly is the Lord’s Prayer, and why is it important? Let’s watch episode seven from the Sermon on the Mount series, The Lord’s Prayer.

Let’s internalize the words of the prayer by slowly reading and meditating on the BibleProject Scholarship team’s translation below. We also encourage you to read the prayer in other translations throughout the plan.

Matthew 6:9-15
9 Therefore, when you pray, do it this way:
Our Father who is in the skies, may your name be recognized as holy.
10 May your kingdom come, and may your will be done, as it is in the skies so also on the land.
11 Our daily provision of bread, give to us today.
12 And forgive us our debts, just as we also have forgiven those indebted to us.
13 And don’t lead us to be tested, but deliver us from the evil one.
14 For if you forgive people their transgressions, your Father in the skies will also forgive you.
15 But if you will not forgive people, then neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.

Reflection Question
Why do you think Jesus says, “When you pray, do it this way?” Is he saying that all prayer should be a recitation of these specific words? Or is he saying something else?