Gò0dNews for Everyone
The Perfect Prayer
D
by Jennie Hawkins
o you remember writing book reports in school?
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those
You probably used an outline from which to write
who trespass against us. In this segment, we are
your report. If someone read only your outline,
agreeing with God’s conditional forgiveness. We are to
they should be able to understand the subject of your
forgive others to the extent that we expect to be forgiven
report and glean some basic information from it. They
by our Heavenly Father.
might even be inspired to read your report because of the clarity of your outline. What if you had an outline for the perfect prayer,
Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. God does not tempt us, but the world, the flesh, and the evil one certainly will. We are invoking God’s
a prayer that was certain to get your Heavenly Father’s
omnipotent protection against outside influences and our
attention? In Matthew chapter 6, verses 9 through 13, Jesus
own selves as well as the devil.
presents us with our outline for the perfect prayer. Let’s examine this outline verse by verse. Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be your Name. We must address our Father in intimacy. He knows us and wants us to know Him. He must be our Father. It is this sense of intimacy that gains His attention. Then, we must praise Him for who He is to us by hallowing His name. If I wanted to get your attention, I would call you by name, and I would be as personal and intimate in calling your name as possible. Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. God’s Kingdom is a
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory
supernatural one not normally found on earth. Yet we,
forever. We close by declaring God’s omnipresence, His
as spiritual beings, operate in a supernatural kingdom
omnipotence, and His omniscience for all eternity. We are
that should surpass the natural. Here, we are asking God
declaring that His ways are superior to ours and that we
to intervene in our will to the effect that we complement
prefer His ways.
and reinforce His perfect will in our lives, just as His will pervades Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. He provided holy subsistence during the wilderness wanderings of the
Amen. So be it! If we follow the essence of this outline, our prayers will become more powerful and be so mighty that the devil will dread seeing us get out of bed each morning.
us. We, in fact, are not guaranteed any bread beyond our daily bread, which emphasizes our daily reliance on Him.
38 // June 2020
About The Author
Israelites, and we are simply asking Him to do the same for Jennie Hawkins is a wife, mother, grandmother and Ordained Minister. She is the founder and director of Daughters of Promise TN. She and her husband, James, are co-founders of Hawkins Family Ministries. Contact her at JHawkinsMinistries@gmail.com.
