How to pray the Lord’s Prayer slowly, one line at a time

When his friends asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he didn’t give them a technique. He gave them a prayer. Christians have prayed it every day for two thousand years, in every language, in cathedrals and kitchens and hospital corridors.

The danger with words we know by heart is that we can say them without noticing. Here is a way to slow the Lord’s Prayer down, so each line becomes a doorway rather than a sentence to get through.

Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

— Matthew 6:9–13 (WEB)

How it works

Say one line. Then stop, and pray from it in your own words before moving on. Some lines will hold you for a while. Others you will pass through quickly. There is no right pace, and no need to finish.

Our Father in heaven

Start with who you are talking to. Not a distant force, but a Father who already knows you. Jesus says “our”, not “my”, so you never pray this prayer alone. Picture the people you love praying it with you.

May your name be kept holy

This is worship before asking. Tell God something true about him that you are grateful for today: that he is patient, that he was near last week, that he made the morning.

Let your Kingdom come, let your will be done

Bring the places that most need God’s kingdom. A friend’s marriage. The news you read this morning. Your own street. Then the harder part: ask that his will be done in you, even where it costs something.

Give us today our daily bread

Ask for what you need today. Not for the year, just today. Then widen it, because the prayer says “us”. Who do you know who needs bread, work, rest or money this week? Pray for them by name.

Forgive us, as we also forgive

Be honest about what you have done and left undone. Then think of someone who has hurt you. You don’t have to feel warm. You can simply say: “I want to forgive them. Help me.”

Bring us not into temptation

Name what tends to pull you away from God, and ask for help in the moments you already know are coming. Pray the same for the people you carry, especially anyone going through a hard season.

For yours is the Kingdom

End where you began, with God. Whatever you have asked for, it rests in hands bigger than yours. Say amen, and mean “let it be so”.

A short version for busy days

On some days you will only have a minute. Pray one line slowly, and let it go with you into the day.

Father, today give us what we need. Give [name] what they need too. Forgive me, and help me forgive. Your kingdom come, here, in us. Amen.

Praying it for other people

The Lord’s Prayer is full of “us”, which makes it a natural prayer for the people you love. When you reach “give us today our daily bread”, hold one person in mind and pray it over them.

In Prayershake you can keep the people you are praying for in one place, pray for them one at a time, and let them know when you have. It is a gentle way to turn “us” into actual faces.