Praying the Lord’s Prayer in Heaven

“Father, hallowed be your name.

  Your kingdom come.

  Give us each day our daily bread,

  and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

  And lead us not into temptation.”   — Luke 11:2-4

One thing all believers seem to have in common is, we all want to learn better habits of prayer.  I’ve taught through the Lord’s Prayer several times over the years in a variety of churches.  After all, it’s the one place where Jesus was asked by His disciples, “Teach us to pray.”  Ever since, His reply has been rightly regarded as the best possible outline or summary of what we ought to be pray for.

How to Pray These Words

But this past Sunday I heard an insight on the Lord’s Prayer that never crossed my mind before!  A creative, beautiful thought about prayer in heaven.   Has it ever occurred to you … since we won’t have any needs in heaven and the world will be as it ought to be, all will be well, then what happens to prayer for us?  What will we talk to the Lord about?   Well, on Sunday, August 11, Pastor Michael Gabbert of Evergreen Baptist Church in Tulsa, OK closed a sermon from the Lord’s Prayer on how to pray  with these words:

Imagine if all of these parts of prayer are prayed in heaven some day, when we’re in the presence of God.  Requests will become praise.

 “Father, your name is honored as holy, without exception!”

 “Lord, your kingdom has come, and it’s in place, and everything is made right!”

 “Lord, you have given me everything I need, not just for today, but for eternity, because of what you’ve done in my life!”

 “Father, you have given me grace and you have surrounded me with people that have received grace, and we honor you.  And we will never face temptation because you in your holiness and justice, you have dealt with evil and the world is the way it was meant to be.”

 Listen, we’re not going to stop praying when we get to heaven; we’re just going to pray in the finished tense, instead of the request.  That’s coming.  But today, there are still battles to be fought, there are victories to be won, there are challenges to be faced, there are struggles to be overcome, there are storms to be stilled.

Glory to God!

Glory to God! What a pleasure it will be to reflect on how all these prayers were answered, with everlasting results that can never be altered.  I can hardly wait.   Come, Lord Jesus.