To many people, the whole point of prayer is this: how do you get God to give you what you need? Now, that’s not the point of prayer, and if you think it is, you will get very little. That’s the irony. Prayer is very effective for those people who don’t come into it hoping it will primarily be a way to get God to give you things.
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus shows us that after you are done centering your heart and mind on the fatherhood of God and submitting to his lordship by saying, “your will be done,” then you can go and start asking him for your daily bread, for protection, for provision.
So there’s an order here that must be honored, or else you rip up the fabric of prayer. Let’s look at what it means to pray with this order: 1) first accepting “your will be done,” and 2) then asking.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 27, 1990. Series: The Lord’s Prayer 1990. Scripture: Matthew 6:9-15.
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Released on 2 Jan 2026