In This Manner

In This Manner
By M.T. Clark — P-2102 | 10/23/2026 – Today’s Audio Podcast
Today’s Message on YouTube:

Today’s photo of my brother-in-law Steve and some of the younger members of our family taking in the view from the top of Mount Antone during our recent backpacking trip comes to us from yours truly, as I captured this view at the Merck Forest and Farmland Preserve, in Rupert, VT, on October 10, 2026.

Well, it’s Friday, thank God, and I share this photo to encourage you to get out there and see the beauty of God’s creation and to remind us that the Lord gives us family and friends to share His creation with. A view like this one is better when you can share the experience with others, and the Lord has been kind to put people in our lives to do that, so as you plan your path through life make sure that you include people other than “Me, Myself, & I”.  God gives us the dual gift of His creation and His people to be our “spiritual family,” and we should be intentional about bringing those things together when we can.

Speaking of the Lord giving us good gifts…

Our series “The Beatitudes” continues today with the prayer Jesus Himself taught His disciples to pray. He gave us a model that has shaped the prayers of His people for two thousand years.

In This Manner

After telling us not to pray like the hypocrites or the heathen, Jesus does what a good Teacher always does. He shows us what He means. He gives us a prayer that we can recite word for word, and that also teaches us the elements of every other prayer we pray. Matthew 6:9-13 (NKJV) tells us:

“In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

Notice that Jesus says, “in this manner, pray.” He does not say, “pray these exact words every time.” This prayer has been recited aloud by Christians since the earliest church, and that is a very good thing. But Jesus’s first point here is that this is a MODEL. It teaches us the elements of healthy prayer. It is a template we can lean on, and we can use it as a guideline to fill with our own words.

The structure of the Lord’s prayer teaches us something. Jesus starts with the Father, not with us. The first three petitions are about Him. Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom comes. Your will be done. Only after that does the prayer turn to our concerns, and when it does, it names them simply. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts. Do not lead us into temptation. The prayer then closes the way it began, with God. “Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”

The order matters. When we pray, we do not come in with a long list of our wants and needs and tack on a quick acknowledgment of God at the end. We humble ourselves before God first. We remember who our Heavenly Father is and ask that His name be honored and that His kingdom would come. Then, having worshipped God, we bring Him our requests. And when we are done, we finish the way we started. We close with God, not with us.

Think about what it means that Jesus starts the prayer with “Our Father.” Jewish prayer in Jesus’s day did not usually address God this way. He was called the Lord, the Most High, the King of the Universe. All of those names are true. But Jesus gives His people a different word to lead with: Father. Jesus’ prayer teaches us the relationship that exists between God and His people: a family with God as our Father. The whole prayer is prayed from the posture of a child before a Father who sees us, loves us, and already knows what we need before we ask.

Here is one way we can use the prayer that Jesus gives us.  Open with “Our Father in heaven,” and let the truth of your relationship with God settle in before you move on. Then walk through each line. When you get to “Your kingdom come,” pray for the specific places in your life where you want the kingdom to break in. I often will pray, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth, and in my life, as it is in heaven”.  When you get to “daily bread,” you can name the specific things you need the Lord to provide. When you get to “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” you can confess the things you need to be forgiven for and decide to pray to forgive the people who have offended you. Then you can close the prayer the way Jesus closes it. When you personalize the Lord’s Prayer, you will find that the prayer Jesus gave his disciples is big enough to address all the concerns of your life inside of it.

Jesus is not asking us to be eloquent or formal. He is asking us to come reverently before our Heavenly Father, as His children, with the form of a prayer that God Himself taught us to pray.

Every step we take toward the Lord is a step in the right direction. So, keep on walking and talking with God.

— M.T.

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“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

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