How to Pray the Lord’s Prayer: A Simple Guide

What is the Lord’s Prayer?

The Lord’s Prayer is a passage from Jesus’ longest, most detailed sermon. Here, Jesus gives us specific direction on how to pray. How amazing is that? This is the exact format for prayer that Jesus tells his disciples to use. 

In addition to a formula, Jesus gives further direction in the verses before the Lord’s Prayer. (Matthew 6: 5-8)

He tells us not to pray for the sake of impressing others but to pray in secret for our own reward. He also tells us not to be repetitive or to babble on and on as we pray. Our prayers do not need to be lengthy or extravagant or wordy to be effective.

The Lord’s Prayer is actually quite short. This is how Jesus tells us to pray: with fewer words and more intimacy. 

As I was studying to write this post, I became aware that my own prayer life could use less of me talking and more of me adoring, more of me listening, and more of me worshiping. 

We speak less so God can speak more. If we are the only ones talking when we pray, how then can we hear from God?

Jesus’ direction tells us how to not just pray, but how to pray well. 

A Simple Outline of the Lord’s Prayer

Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6:9–13 gives us a simple pattern for prayer:

1. Our Father in heaven — Approach God as your Father.
2. Hallowed be your name — Praise God for who He is.
3. Your kingdom come — Pray for God’s kingdom and purposes.
4. Your will be done — Surrender your plans to God’s will.
5. Give us this day our daily bread — Ask God to provide for your needs.
6. Forgive us our debts — Confess your sins and receive God’s forgiveness.
7. As we forgive our debtors — Ask God to help you forgive others.
8. Lead us not into temptation — Ask God for strength to resist temptation.
9. Deliver us from evil — Ask God for His protection and deliverance.

You don’t have to rush through these phrases or simply repeat them word for word. Instead, use each one as a starting point for your own conversation with God.

Want a Printable Lord’s Prayer Study Guide?

Take this study with you into your quiet time with a free printable Lord’s Prayer Study Guide PDF.

It walks through each part of Jesus’ prayer and gives you space to reflect, pray, and write out your own prayers. Print it as many times as you need or use it digitally with your iPad or tablet.

Get the Free Lord’s Prayer Guide PDF →

How to Use the Lord’s Prayer as a Guide

The Lord’s Prayer doesn’t have to be something you simply recite from memory. You can use it as a framework for your own prayers. Especially if you are newer to prayer or to being a Christian, using the Lord’s Prayer as a guide can take a lot of the guesswork out of praying.

Take each phrase slowly and allow it to lead you into a longer conversation with God.

For example, when you pray “Give us this day our daily bread,” you might thank God for how He has provided for you, ask Him to meet a specific need, pray for someone who is struggling financially, or surrender a situation you are worried about.

When you pray “Your will be done,” you might bring a specific decision to God and ask Him to give you the willingness to follow His direction—even when His answer isn’t what you expected.

In this way, the Lord’s Prayer becomes more than words you repeat. It becomes a simple framework that helps you praise God, surrender to Him, confess your sins, ask for what you need, forgive others, and trust Him with your life.

Let’s do this step by step, together!

Step One: Start With Praise & Worship

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

The word “hallowed” here means “honored as holy.” The first step to any prayer is to give God glory, honor, and praise. This positions our hearts to be tuned into God’s presence as we pray. 

Here, Jesus also directs us to acknowledge God as our Father in heaven.

God is the creator of the universe, the Alpha and Omega, the King of Kings, the Almighty. But He is also our good Father who loves us and wants an intimate relationship with us.

Beginning prayer by calling him “Father” and praising His name brings us into His presence the right way: with reverence and awe, but also with intimacy and relationship.

You aren’t just praying to a distant, powerful King. You are praying to the loving, tender God of your heart, who knows you fully and loves you deeply.

The words we choose have power; don’t be hesitant or afraid to call Him your Heavenly Father. 

Step Two: Pray God’s Will Be Done

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Jesus tells us to pray God’s will over our own because the ultimate goal of prayer is not to convince God of our heart but to align it with His. Praying God’s will to be done in our situation puts His agenda before our own.

This is the mark of a truly surrendered heart.

We can certainly pray specifically for our heart’s desires; He knows them anyway. But ultimately our main desire should be for God’s will to prevail.

Even if His will is the opposite of our desire. 

Even more specifically, Jesus instructs us to pray God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. What does this mean?

It means that we desire His will to be done freely, without disobedience or obstacle or hindrance of human sin. Jesus tells us to pray this way not because God needs us to do His will, but because He chooses to use us to do the work of His Kingdom.

To do His good work, we have to trust Him and obey Him while striving to deny our sinful human nature. In Heaven, these issues are not present. But on earth, they are. 

We should desire His will to be done and for us to not stand in the way of it by disobeying or sinning. 

Step Three: Pray For Your Needs

“Give us this day our daily bread,”

Here, Jesus transitions into instructing us to pray for the provision of our needs, no matter how seemingly insignificant or mundane.

We need daily bread in the sense that we need God to dwell with us daily and guide us, but also that we need literal daily bread to stay alive.

Pray for both His physical and spiritual provision in your life and the lives of those you love. 

God created us with bodies and souls that both need daily substance to sustain them. Pray for the things that you need and thank Him for all that He has already blessed you with.

Step Four: Confess Sin & Ask For Forgiveness

“..and forgive us our debts,”

Many times when we pray, we forget these next two steps, but they are vitally important to our walk with God.

We need to regularly ask God to search our hearts and reveal our sin to us. We need to regularly be confessing those sins to God and asking Him to forgive us. 

Prayer is about cultivating a relationship with Jesus, and in any relationship, part of intimacy is humility and openness. Humble, open, teachable hearts apologize when they are wrong.

The mark of a truly humble heart is a genuine desire to apologize for wrongdoing and seek forgiveness.

Do not leave any sin unconfessed; unrepented sin erodes our relationship with God and hinders intimacy with Him.

Ask the Lord to search your heart and reveal unrepented sin to you. 

Step Five: Ask For Help Forgiving Others

“..as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

You may not think that you regularly need to forgive others, but this doesn’t just refer to obvious conflicts. This can mean forgiving someone for disappointing you or letting you down, as well as forgiving someone who has wronged you.

The way we talk about others and post on social media should show you how badly we need the help of the Holy Spirit to continually offer forgiveness to others.

We should offer it freely, whether it is deserved or requested, because we have been forgiven when we did not deserve it.

It is our duty as Christians to portray the love of Christ to the world, and this means forgiving when the world would say retribution is justified. This means forgiving those who slander you or speak against you when the world would say they don’t deserve your kindness.

This is not an easy task. Our flesh will fight against this tooth and nail, so we need to regularly pray for the strength to forgive others.

Step Six: Pray For Safety, Protection & Deliverance

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Though God allows us to be tempted and tested, He is never the tempter (James 1:13-14). We lead ourselves into situations where we are tempted. Here Jesus is showing us how to pray against this and keep us from being our own worst enemy.

This part of prayer is important because our flesh is weak against temptation. Though we can withstand and overcome through the strength of God (Philippians 4:13) it is better if we can steer clear of temptation from the beginning.

We should also pray that we do not cause temptation for any other brother or sister in Christ.

Pray also here for protection and safety, as we have a real enemy who lives to attack God’s people. Pray, as Jesus says, for “deliverance from evil.”

Frequently Asked Questions About the Lord’s Prayer

Take the Lord’s Prayer Into Your Quiet Time

The Lord’s Prayer gives us a beautiful framework for coming before God—not because we need perfect words, but because Jesus has shown us how to pray.

The next time you sit down to pray, take one phrase at a time. Slow down. Personalize it. Bring your own needs, struggles, relationships, and desires before God.

And if you’d like something tangible to guide you, you can download the free Lord’s Prayer Study Guide and use it during your next quiet time.

Your Sister in Christ,