The Prayer of the Lord

The Prayer of the Lord explores the meaning and structure of the Lord’s Prayer as a model for the Christian life of prayer. Written for a broad audience, this book offers a phrase-by-phrase exposition of the prayer Jesus taught His disciples.

Dr. R.C. Sproul guides readers through each petition of the Lord’s Prayer, beginning with how Jesus instructed His disciples not to pray before turning to the prayer itself. Sproul examines what it means to address God as Father, to hallow His name, to seek His kingdom and submit to His will, to depend on His daily provision, to seek forgiveness, and to ask for deliverance from temptation and the evil one. The book closes with a discussion of the doxology and an appendix addressing the relationship between prayer and God’s sovereignty.

Throughout, Sproul emphasizes that prayer is shaped by a right understanding of who God is and who we are as His creatures. He calls readers to approach God with reverence as well as intimacy, warning against the casual familiarity that can arise when believers lose sight of God’s holiness and majesty. The book includes a question-and-answer section that addresses common pastoral and theological concerns about prayer.

Key Themes

• The Lord’s Prayer as a model for the content and posture of Christian prayer
• The fatherhood of God and the privilege of addressing Him through adoption in Christ
• Daily dependence on God’s providence and submission to His sovereign will
• The balance between reverence and intimacy in approaching God
• Forgiveness, spiritual debt, and deliverance from temptation

Featured Quotes

“When we come before God, we must remember two simple facts—who He is and who we are.”

“We may speak to God in familial terms but we must guard against overly familiar terms.”