Jonathan Woodard

P1 – Perspective - “Father, hallowed be your name.”

We pray for ourselves and others that we would “hallow” his name more. We’re really asking for a God-perpective on Him and the character his name(s) represent. It’s not like we’re praying that God would be more holy. He already is holy, set apart, sanctified, all that. God doesn’t change. Hallowed has more to do with our attititude of reverence. We’re asking for him to cause things to happen that bring people to rever his name more. (eg. Act 19:17, Phil 2:9-11)
A great way to do this is to focus on what his name means, on the names God has given himself,  praying that people would allow that to affect their everyday perpective on God, and therefore, on life in general. Names of God & Jesus

P2 – Presence – “Your Kingdom come”

We’re really asking God for the King, because you can’t have a kingdom coming without the King coming. It’s like Moses prayed in Exodus 33:15-16, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”
We’re praying that more and more people would submit to the Kingship of Jesus. (FYI – God the Father has given the Kingdom to Jesus – John 18:36, 2 Peter 1:11)

P3 – Pleasure – “Your will be done.”

We’re asking for God to be happy, for things to happen in me and others so that God gets what he wants. The best thing that can happen to and through us is when we bring God pleasure. Moses continues in Exodus 33: 15 “How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us.” We ask God to give us and other His ideas to be the people He wants us to be.

P4 – Pleas – “Give us today our daily bread.”

We’re asking God for a major thing that motivates us to pray, which is our NEEDS. Many times, we blindly ignore or conveniently forget what we really need, and don’t bring it up to God. Right after his sample prayer, Jesus told of a man who NEEDED 3 loaves of bread for an out of town guest, even asking for it at the worst possible time. The man’s vision of a pleasant experience with that guest was what drove him to wake up and PLEA from his neighbor. We need to dream, to have a picture in our mind of what we ulimately need, so we can clarify to God, PLEA to God, what we NEED to get that.

P5 – Protection – “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us, and lead us not into temptation”

We’re asking for protection

1. protection for ourselves for our sins (which we get for free in Christ),
2. protection from ourselves latching onto bitterness or unforgiveness of other people’s sins against us (by reminding ourselves that we better forgive or else), and
3. protection against temptation. He especially warns us against 3 monsters that the devil can tease us with(Gen 3:6, Lk 4:3-12, 1 John 2:16). We overcome them through remembering and obeying Scripture, like Jesus did. These 3 tempting monsters are :

• • sinful cravings,
  • lust of the eyes, and
  • boasting of possessions or accomplishments.

This idea is relatively untested, but if you end up using it, can you let me know if its helpful for you? I guess ideally, we can hold up our hand, count 5 fingers, and count off these 5 requests.