How to Pray, Part 5

By Robb Brunansky

Published October 23, 2025

As we conclude our study of the Lord’s Prayer, we come to the final two categories given by Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Luke: God’s pardon and protection.

If we are to honor God as holy and seek His kingdom as we have seen previously, we must have His pardon and protection. What does this statement mean? Let’s start with God’s pardon.

This petition is fraught with difficulties that have long bothered Christians. Believers struggle with praying for God’s forgiveness of our sins, when He has already absolved us in Christ. Some also question why we would use our forgiveness of those who wronged us as grounds for God’s forgiveness of our own sins against Him. So, we must consider this petition from two perspectives: God’s pardon of us, our forgiveness of others, and how these two work together.

In this prayer, Jesus plainly teaches His disciples to ask for God’s forgiveness. As Christians, we are to pray that God would forgive us, not merely thank Him for forgiveness already received. The key to understanding this truth is to remember the word “Father” at the beginning of the prayer, which speaks, not of God as our Judge, but as our Father. Only those who are in Christ can call God Father, and yet here Jesus teaches that we who are in Him by faith must pray for forgiveness of our violations of the Lord’s holy and righteous standard. God wants His children to confess these sins, seek forgiveness, and maintain a close relationship with Him wherein we seek to walk in holiness and confess when we knowingly fail to do so.

There are other scriptural exhortations and examples of praying for forgiveness. Perhaps the most famous is from David, where we see the believer who is broken over his sin (Psalm 51). David knows his sin, and he desires for God to blot it out, wipe it away, and cleanse him from it, restoring his relationship with the Lord. Another example is from the apostle John, which was written to believers (1 John 1:9). Christians should confess our sins and maintain a daily walk with God, where we examine our hearts, bring our sins before Him, and ask Him to forgive our sins. When we do make this request, God wonderfully forgives us with His righteousness.

Why does God want us to do this, if He has forgiven us of our sins as our Judge? There are three benefits of praying for forgiveness.

The first benefit of praying for forgiveness is that it reminds us of our own sin, which is a vital part of Christianity. Praying for forgiveness reminds us that our righteousness, no matter how holy we become, is always and only in Christ. The second benefit is that we are reminded of the greatness of God’s grace. Our hearts overflow with gratitude because we are reminded of how much God loves us in seeing His superabundant grace cover our sins. The third benefit of praying for forgiveness is that it provides accountability for sin. These prayers help us become more holy, which is the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Here, then, we see God’s pardon of us, and Jesus’ teaching that we must regularly go to God in prayer to confess our sins and seek His forgiveness as our heavenly Father. We have His pardon as our Judge, but we also long for that daily relationship and pardon of our loving Father.

How does this truth fit in with our forgiveness of others who wrong us? When Jesus teaches us to pray, “For we ourselves also forgive…” He does not give a cause but a reason for forgiveness. The reason to seek God’s forgiveness is our relationship with Him. We are essentially reminding God that we are His children and that He is our Father, requesting that because of this relationship (which is proven by our treatment of others) He act according to His character and promises, treating us as children and not as strangers or enemies (Psalm 25:5).

One other note about this second phrase is how we ask God to forgive our sins while we forgive the debts of others. This distinction is important in this context because it indicates that what God forgives is greater than what we forgive. People can fail to live up to what they owe us as our fellow human beings, and so we release them from those debts and unmet obligations, whether those be sins of omission or commission. Yet, if we are not forgiving people, we are not forgiven people. If we do not imitate the heavenly Father, we are not His children. So, this prayer is a great reminder of our need, not only to be forgiven, but to forgive so that we imitate our heavenly Father..

The fifth and final petition in this Lord’s Prayer is for God’s protection (verse 4).

Sandwiched between a prayer for forgiveness of sins and a request to be delivered from evil, we have a request to not to be led into temptation or trial. Given that context, it seems more likely that what is in view is, not a test, but a temptation to sin brought by the evil one. We pray for forgiveness of our sins, and we ask God to protect us from evil to overcome temptations that brought us into the sin we just confessed.

Why, though, would we pray that God not lead us into temptation, when He would never lead us into temptation? (James 1:13) Matthew’s Gospel has a parallel structure, indicating that Jesus is saying the same thing with positive (deliver us from evil) and negative (do not lead us into temptation) perspectives. The best way to understand this, then, seems to be as a prayer for God to minimize temptation in our lives, strengthen us when temptation comes, and show us how to escape from temptation.

Praying for this reality ultimately sanctifies us. We regularly enjoy being tempted with certain things, hoping we would never cross the line into sin. However, here we are not merely praying, “God, when I am tempted, help me escape” (although it includes that); but we are praying, “Lord, keep me far away from sin, as far from sin as possible!” This prayer sanctifies us because God will use it to convict our hearts, so we stay away from the sources of temptations.

Notice the prayer begins and ends with the goal of holiness. It starts with a plea that God’s name would be treated as holy, and it finishes with a plea that we ourselves would be holy. Our chief aim in prayer, as taught by the Lord’s Prayer, is not happiness, prosperity, health, ease, comfort, or stress relief – but holiness. Jesus was so effective in prayer because He prayed according to God’s will, which is our sanctification or holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

When we pray, we ought to ask ourselves two questions:

1. How can we pray so God’s holiness shines with majestic glory?
2. How can we pray that the church of God manifests His holiness on earth?

We see these five petitions in the Lord’s Prayer tend toward that goal. God’s kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness, and we want His holiness to prevail. Our daily provisions are given so we might do the Lord’s will, which is walking in holiness. We confess our sins because we are not holy, and we desire God’s forgiveness when we fall short of His majestic holiness.

The Lord’s prayer is a prayer for holiness, which means that all prayer is meant for holiness. As we pray, let us praise our Father, magnify His name, and cast all our cares upon Him, because He cares for us. And may our greatest care, desire, and aim be to share in His holiness.