Luke Wright recently posted a video about prayer for leaders in his church. It has some great tips on how to pray. It is based on what is commonly called The Lord’s Prayer, or The Model Prayer, found in Matthew 6. Jesus taught this prayer to his disciples when they asked him to teach them how to pray. The prayer emphasizes six aspects of our relationship to God. Luke calls it The Prayer Hexagon. In our prayers we relate to God based on these six things.
- The Father’s character. He is our father who loves us. Prayer begins by recognizing God as father.
- We recognize the Father’s kingdom, meaning his rule as lord in our life. We seek God’s will to be done.
- We seek God’s provision. We look to God as the provider of our needs. Even our basic food is from him.
- We seek God’s forgiveness. We recognize we have disobeyed and seek the Father’s forgiveness.
- We seek God’s guidance, especially in the moral dimension of life. We want God’s wisdom and boundaries.
- We seek God’s deliverance from evil. We recognize there is a spiritual battle in the world and seek his help and protection.
Luke’s video is really helpful and only about five minutes long. Take a moment to view it here.
We don’t have to cycle through all of these topics in every prayer. But we do need to relate to God in each of these dimensions.