Christian teaching

Let me begin by asking – “How often should we pray the Lord’s prayer?” Ever thought about this? One way to answer this is to ask:

• How often do you need forgiveness?
• Or, how often do you want to ask to be spared difficult times of testing?
• Or even more specifically – how often do you need daily bread? (Hint – “daily”).

The answer for all is – every day. We need to be praying these things daily. Now we could leave it here, but I want to set this question against the background, out of which the Lord’s prayer comes –

Daily prayers

This is an ancient Jewish pattern of devotion to God. Daily prayers are set times of prayer in the morning and evening. Here are some examples of this in Scripture:

Psalm 22:2 – “O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.”

Psalm 88:1-2 – “O Lord, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry!”

These times of prayer coincided with the routine of the Temple sacrifices. The Temple was, after all, the house of prayer, and prayers were offered up with the sacrifices. And, indeed, the prayers themselves were also seen as sacrifices to God, or a part of the sacrifice. For instance:

Morning sacrifice – Psalm 5:3 “O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.”

Evening sacrifice – Psalm 141:2 “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!”

So prayers are being offered at the times of sacrifice in the morning and evening. (It may well be true that the temple routine is the root of this practice of set times of prayer in the morning and evening.)

There is also a threefold pattern in Scripture with an afternoon time of prayer added on:

Psalm 55:16-17  “But I call to God, and the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.”

Daniel 6:10 “Daniel . . . got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God”

This afternoon time of prayer, when it was observed, was usually shorter.

The actual times of prayer are as follows:

• 9:00 AM  Morning (The third hour)
• 12:00 PM Noon (The sixth hour)
• 3:00 PM Evening (The ninth hour)

There was some flexibility here as to morning and evening prayers. It was more casual, perhaps, outside of Jerusalem and the Temple routine. It was more like early morning and sunset, perhaps related to the work schedules of the common person. Now lets look at . . .

Jesus and daily prayers

We see this pattern of daily prayers in Jesus’ teaching on prayer. Luke 18:1 says, “And Jesus told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” In Luke 18:7 this means praying “day and night” – a reference to daily prayers.

We also see daily prayers in Jesus’ example of praying:

Early morning prayers – Mark 1:35 “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

Later evening prayers – Matthew 14:23 “And after Jesus had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.”

Let me also share this, because it is interesting, and it ties in with Jesus’ example. These times of prayer are connected to the cross:

During morning prayers (3rd hour) – Jesus was crucified.
During afternoon prayers (6th hour) – darkness came over the land.
During evening prayers (9th hour) – Jesus died.

But not only this, in Luke there is a prayer connected to each one:

Morning prayers – “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” – Luke 23:34.

Evening prayers – “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” – Luke 23:46

So, Jesus observes daily prayers, in shortened form, on the cross. Also, there is an afternoon prayer, when the thief prays to Jesus – Luke 23:42.

The apostle Peter and daily prayers

Just going through the book of Act in order, here are three examples:

Morning prayers – Acts 2:15 – they were in the upper room in morning prayers when the Spirit fell at Pentecost.

Evening prayers – Acts 3:1 – Peter and John were on their way to evening prayers in the Temple when they healed the paralyzed man.

Afternoon prayers – Acts 10:9 – Peter was observing afternoon prayers when he received the vision of the acceptance of the Gentiles.

Peter and the early Christians in the book of Acts observed daily prayers.

The apostle Paul and daily prayers

Paul practiced daily prayers:

1 Thessalonians 3:10 – “we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you.”

2 Timothy 1:3 – “I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.”

Also, with regard to teaching, Paul’s calls to constant prayer should be seen against the background of daily prayers:

• Colossians 4:2 “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving”
• Romans 12:12 “Be constant in prayer.” Be constant in your daily.
• I Thessalonians 5:17 “pray without ceasing” That is, do not cease to say your daily prayers. I do not think this is a call to a figurative kind of prayer – ‘a spirit of prayer.’ It is a call to real prayer at set times during the day.

Just briefly . . .

Daily prayers included more than just praying

• The Shema was said twice a day as a part of prayers. As Deuteronomy 6:7 talks about, when you rise up and when you lie down.
• Praise was also a part of it, as 92:1-2 talks about, in the morning and evening.

Bringing this home, lets look at . . .

The Lord’s prayer as a daily prayer

Daily prayers are the context of the giving of the Lord’s prayer. In Luke 11:2 Jesus said, “when you pray . . .” pray the Lord’s prayer. In this Jewish context this could only be taken as a reference to daily prayers.

The context here is that John the Baptist had taught his disciples a set prayer for their daily prayers, and now Jesus is saying, when you say your daily prayers, say this prayer. That is, during your set times of prayer in the morning and evening, offer up these five petitions.

This was understood in the early church, even among Gentiles. In The Didache – a book written for Gentiles instructing them how to be Christians, it says, pray the Lord’s prayer three times each day – (chapter eight)

Disciplined praying

So we have answered our question – “How often should we pray the Lord’s prayer?” Two, or maybe even three times a day.

We are not talking about some dead routine or lifeless ritual here. We are talking about discipline in our prayers. And it is certainly possible to be both disciplined with set times for prayer and a set prayer – the Lord’s prayer, and Spirit led, as Jesus and the apostles model for us. Who knew more about the Spirit than they? And they observed daily prayers.

This also doesn’t exclude spontaneous prayer at any time during the day and night, but our focus today is disciplined prayer.

If you already have a good pattern of prayer, I want to encourage you in it, and to work in the Lord’s prayer in a way that is meaningful to you.

If you don’t have a disciplined pattern of prayer, and want help, I offer my own prayer book, which I put together because I need help being disciplined in my prayers.

However you want to do it, lets remember Paul words in Romans 12:12 “Be constant in prayer.” And that’s the message for today – be disciplined in your daily devotion to God and utilize the prayer that Jesus gave us for this purpose. William Higgins