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The Lord's Prayer: Learning from Jesus on What, Why, and How to Pray
Christians know the importance of prayer, but the act of praying can be a real challenge. Some have the desire, but not always the will; others worry they don’t do it well. Books about prayer usually emphasize spiritual discipline, but that can foster more guilt than reassurance. So how can Christians improve their prayer life, embracing the privilege of communicating with God?
In The Lord’s Prayer, Kevin DeYoung closely examines Christ’s model for prayer, giving readers a deeper understanding of its content and meaning, and how it works in the lives of God’s people. Walking through the Lord’s Prayer word by word, DeYoung helps believers gain the conviction to develop a stronger prayer life, and a sense of freedom to do so.
In The Lord’s Prayer, Kevin DeYoung closely examines Christ’s model for prayer, giving readers a deeper understanding of its content and meaning, and how it works in the lives of God’s people. Walking through the Lord’s Prayer word by word, DeYoung helps believers gain the conviction to develop a stronger prayer life, and a sense of freedom to do so.
123 pages, Paperback
Published May 17, 2022
50 people are currently reading
518 people want to read
About the author
Kevin DeYoung
113 books1,236 followersKevin DeYoung is the Senior Pastor at University Reformed Church (RCA) in East Lansing, Michigan, right across the street from Michigan State University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
July 21, 2022
Yes to all of the above. I need help with the What, Why, and How to Pray. Of course I have prayed the Lord's Prayer many times, mostly in corporate settings. Many thanks to Kevin DeYoung for the reminder that prayers like this are meaningful and chock full of rich theology. How much better can we do, than to pray the Son's words back to his Father in Heaven. This book has a chapter for each petition in the prayer, expounding and explaining the rich content. Thanks to this book I can look on The Lord's Prayer with new eyes and appreciation. If you have not read one of Kevin DeYoung's books yet, I highly recommend starting with this small, but mighty book on prayer. Other favorites include The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism, The Hole in Our Holiness: Filling the Gap between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of Godliness, What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?, Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem, and The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden.
May 29, 2025
I tapped out on this book after just a couple chapters. It felt like being written down to, as if the reader was juvenile or unintelligent.
May 28, 2022
The Lord’s Prayer: Learning From Jesus on What, Why, and How to Pray by Kevin DeYoung is a deep and thought-provoking book that probes the inner depths of the most well-known prayer in the Bible. In typical “DeYoung fashion,” the book is simple to understand but contains weighty theological principles that cause readers to delve headlong into the biblical text.
Dr. DeYoung is quick to dispel some of the popular myths about prayer and turn the attention of readers to the true intention of Jesus. As the subtitle indicates, the book discusses the what, why, and how of prayer. New Christians and longtime Christians will both be encouraged and challenged by this excellent book.
DeYoung is a lucid writer who has a gift for making difficult concepts easy to understand. His most recent book is no exception. I recommend it highly!
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.
Dr. DeYoung is quick to dispel some of the popular myths about prayer and turn the attention of readers to the true intention of Jesus. As the subtitle indicates, the book discusses the what, why, and how of prayer. New Christians and longtime Christians will both be encouraged and challenged by this excellent book.
DeYoung is a lucid writer who has a gift for making difficult concepts easy to understand. His most recent book is no exception. I recommend it highly!
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.
May 17, 2022
A study on the Lords Prayer goes a long way for anyone who truly wants to draw closer to the heart of God. To know Him, His will, and to know ourselves in light of who God is. Kevin DeYoung gives a line by line look at what the Lord's Prayer does for the believer. What truly is important and how easily we can be deceived. It changes our desires and encourages us in prayer to put our sin and anxieties at the forefront. "forgive us as we forgive others."
Several things I did receive insight was the temptation of Christ. It can ministering to us as well and how the Lord's prayer resembles the prayer of David found in 1 Chronicles.
What makes this study different from others is the application of faith. The Lord's prayer and faith are very powerful and a great reminder of a great God we have. Highly recommend.
A special thank you to Crossway Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.
April 8, 2023
Great modern reflection on the Lord’s Prayer.
“God wants us to see [that] we are more fragile than we think, and he is much kinder to us than we imagine.”
“God wants us to see [that] we are more fragile than we think, and he is much kinder to us than we imagine.”
December 7, 2023
In recent years there have been a number of helpful, mercifully short books written about the Lord's Prayer. Add DeYoung's to that list. This book is a quick, easy read. It's also thought provoking and challenging. This would be a great book to help a new believer learn to think rightly about prayer, and to actually start praying.
June 8, 2024
An easy to read unpacking of the Lord’s Prayer that stirs you to pray instead of a guilt trip.
Helpful explanation of what the prayer is saying and why we should pray it!
Side note: why don’t we pray this more in our churches (aside from Anglican tradition) when Jesus tells us to pray this way?
Helpful explanation of what the prayer is saying and why we should pray it!
Side note: why don’t we pray this more in our churches (aside from Anglican tradition) when Jesus tells us to pray this way?
September 23, 2022
“If prayer usually feels dull and boring, I have to conclude that in large part I’ve lost a sense of who it is I’m praying to.”
Kevin DeYoung starts his book, The Lord’s Prayer, like this:
“Is there any activity more essential to the Christian life, and yet more discouraging in the Christian’s life, than prayer?… We admire those who do pray. And yet when it comes to actually praying, most of us feel like failures.”
And I don’t know about you, but this really resonates with me!
I feel like I’m constantly feeling guilty for not praying more or feeling like my prayers are petty or pointless. In fact, I’ve been working on a blog post called ‘Why Pray?’ because I think more people struggle with prayer than they’d like to admit and I think we should talk about that.
Reading this book was great research for my post and great truth for my heart.
I’m sure there are a lot of books written on the Lord’s Prayer. It’s a popular Bible passage. Probably people who don’t even go to church know what the prayer is.
What makes DeYoung’s book unique?
Honestly, I don’t really know. It’s short?
I’ve only read a few books specifically on prayer. Tim Keller’s book Prayer is also phenomenal, but a more fleshed out version of this one.
I read several of Kevin DeYoung’s books and I’ve always appreciated his writing and find it easy to understand and very applicable.
I found this book to be very insightful and helpful to reference as I struggle through my prayer life.
I think this book engages more with the ‘How’ and the ‘What’ than the ‘Why’ but he does say this:
“We don’t pray because God needs help running the universe. We don’t pray to change God’s mind. We pray because God has ordained means to accomplish his ends. He has arranged things so that he will give more grace to those who petition him for it. God doesn’t need prayer, but he uses prayer just like he uses other means. He uses rain to grow the crops, sun to warm the earth, and food to strengthen the body. In the same way, God uses prayer to do his sovereign work. In prayer, we are not instructing God as much as we are instructing ourselves.”
I think we do tend to be so outward focused when we pray that we forget that prayer is for ourselves. To remind ourselves of who God is and how powerful and loving he is that we have the ability to approach him and the hope and evidence that he answers our prayers!
Each time we pray is an act of faith, trusting and depending on God, not ourselves. It’s acknowledging his sovereignty and maintaining communication with our heavenly Father.
I Rote It Off (Get it?)
I grew up in an Evangelical Free Church. We didn’t do many liturgical things. We said this prayer every so often but we didn’t regularly recite Scripture, creeds, etc together as a congregation. I remember thinking how rote it felt to all say the Lord’s Prayer together. It didn’t feel genuine to me, even as a kid.
I took pride in the fact that when my family sat down to pray before meals we didn’t just say the little sing-songy rhyming prayers. We spoke genuine words to God from our hearts. About our feelings and the day. We didn’t need to memorize a few lines to say as if that was ‘good enough.’
I say pride there because I mean pride. My younger self still had a lot to learn about prayer.
I’m an adult and I’m still learning!
Keller’s book helped me meditate on the oh-so-common Lord’s Prayer and so did DeYoung’s.
After all, these are the verses where Jesus specifically TEACHES us how to pray. That must mean they are important!
Really any prayer can become rote if our hearts and our minds aren’t engaged in what we’re doing.
This book has brought new light to the Lord’s Prayer for me so that when I say it I can think about each phrase and how important it is, the attitude and mindset behind the words, the posture before God as we pray.
Prayer Structure
Each chapter focuses on one phrase of the prayer. I like this because even if we don’t want to pray these exact words because they may not feel genuine, we are learning what they mean which can inform how we DO pray.
Why is ‘Our Father’ so significant? What does ‘Hallowed’ mean? What exactly is the kingdom of God? Should we say debts or trespasses? Can God lead us into temptation?
Dissecting these phrases helps us craft our own prayers that still reflect the ideas that Jesus infuses in his exemplary prayer.
DeYoung observes that the prayer is made up of six petitions that can be divided in threes:
“The first set of three requests focuses on God’s glory—his name, his kingdom, and his will. The second set of three requests focuses on our good—our provision, our forgiveness, and our protection.”
God’s glory and our good. I had never thought of the prayer this way.
DeYoung also pointed out that the last three petitions reflect the Trinity:
“You can almost see a Trinitarian structure in the prayer. God the Father is the Creator and provider who gives us our daily bread. God the Son is the atonement for our sins. And God the Spirit leads us and fills us with power to live a holy life.”
I love seeing how God’s nature is reflected in his Word.
God provides for our needs (daily bread)
Jesus paid the price for our sins (forgive us our debts)
The Holy Spirit empowers us to resist temptation and to reflect God’s character (deliverance)
Things I Liked
I liked how he briefly talks about how we call God Father and not Mother. I’m really kind of baffled by so many people all of a sudden deciding that God should have feminine pronouns. It’s a bit ironic that we, as a culture, are so invested in letting everyone choose their own pronouns but we won’t let God. Of all the beings, I think God is capable of revealing himself as he chooses and that should be respected. By I digress.
I liked how he pointed out that people so often try to make heaven on earth. They are trying to ‘build’ God’s kingdom here on earth. But that’s not right. Sure we can work towards helping people and making better policies, but if we make our mission more about turning earth into heaven than putting heaven in people’s hearts, we have misunderstood what Jesus means by the kingdom of God.
“The kingdom does not advance when trees are planted, or unemployment lowered, or beautiful art is created, or elections go one way or another. Those may all be important things. They may reflect certain values of the kingdom. But the kingdom comes when and where the King is known. When Jesus is loved and worshiped and believed upon, there the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
[He talks more about this in his book What is the Mission of the Church.]
I admit, this next quote really caught me off guard. I think I’ve used the terminology ‘building God’s kingdom’ or ‘growing’ his kingdom so it was really interesting to ponder how he says we use wrong verbiage for it all the time. I think I understand what he’s saying but it will be hard to change the way I talk about it.
“The kingdom can come, it can arrive, it can appear. But we do not establish the kingdom, expand the kingdom, or grow the kingdom. The kingdom of God is not a society to be built but a gift to be received. It is again like the sun breaking in. You don’t build the sun. You don’t make the sun. You can pray that the clouds would part. You can declare to people the rays and the warmth of the sun, but it’s not something you can build or bring. The kingdom is God’s kingdom, and we can receive it, seek it, enter it, or inherit it, but we do not create it, bring it, or even give it to others.”
I like how he differentiates between God’s will of decree and his will of desire.
I like how he talked about the necessity for daily bread. God doesn’t want us to ask us for all the bread we could ever need, a one and done kind of prayer. He wants us to come each day, trusting that he will give us what we need for today.
“Today’s grace is for today’s trials, and when tomorrow’s trials come, God will have new grace waiting for you there. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Don’t expect next year’s bread today. Anxiety is living out the future before it gets here… Don’t start living out the troubles of next Tuesday because you haven’t gotten to the grace that will be there waiting for you next Tuesday.”
I’ve preached this message to myself before. As a mom I worry a lot about my kids and what the next years may bring. I see other people’s struggles and pains and wonder- how could I ever survive that if it were to happen to me? But I’ve had to remind myself- God gives each person the grace they need for that day. I don’t need the grace today for what’s not happening today.
That’s kinda a freeing thought! Doesn’t it relieve the burden for us? We don’t have to be weighed down by all the things. God just wants us to depend on him and he will provide exactly what we need for each day.
I like how he says: “Forgiven people forgive.”
“Forgiveness is not saying that sin doesn’t matter. You’re not saying it’s no big deal. You’re saying God is bigger, the cross is bigger, and hell is bigger. Do not focus on what they owe. Focus on what God has already forgiven you.”
This is a hard truth to put into practice but I think I’ll find myself repeating that phrase to myself in the future when I want to hold onto that debt.
He makes a lot of clarifications about what forgiveness is and isn’t, but I thought it was interesting how he observes that forgiveness these days tends to be therapeutic. We forgive so that we no longer feel bitter. But that attitude loses the relational transaction of forgiveness. We also often wrongly say that we need to forgive God. But God has never done anything that requires forgiveness.
I like how he breaks down the temptation of Jesus by Satan and how Satan tempts him with pleasure, pride, and power.
“We can ask the question… in which room is the devil most likely to whisper into your ear? Is it the bedroom with its pleasures, the boardroom with its power, or the bathroom mirror with its pride? Know your enemy. Know yourself. And know from whence your help comes.”
Recommendation
This book is short— 160 pages— but I think it would be a great read for all people. I would venture that the Lord’s Prayer has lost some of its punch for most people and I think this book will reinspire the awe and wonder of our Lord and remind us that if prayer is dull, it’s because we’ve lost sight of who we’re praying to.
DeYoung mentioned at the beginning that a lot of books on prayer leave us feeling more guilty. He wanted to counter that here. This book definitely didn’t make me feel more guilty, but I haven’t decided if it made me feel less guilty.
There is no measure or standard of how many prayers constitute doing ‘a good job.’ And DeYoung tells us that the Bible doesn’t give any instruction on how often, what times, or how long to pray. There is freedom to prayer in those ways.
But I know I still have to be pretty intentional about praying throughout my day, it doesn’t come as naturally as talking to a friend. I’m not sure what the fix for that is except practice. And even just praying that God would help me make prayer a bigger part of my day.
I think Keller’s book has some helpful ideas of ways to pray that give a little more practical guidance. He also talks more about the ‘why’ so I think you should read both books.
I like that DeYoung affirmed we should never be ashamed to bring even the little things to our Father, God cares about those too, but tried to emphasize the importance of Jesus’ teaching us how to pray.
This book won’t take you long to read and it’s definitely worth your time!
[Sidenote: He says the first church he ever served at was in Orange City, Iowa! I went to NWC there! It makes total sense considering his last name is DeYoung, but I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to realize this connection since I love Kevin DeYoung’s books so much. Too bad he wasn’t teaching when I was at college.]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
Shelf Reflection Book Blog
Book Review Blog | Facebook | Pinterest
Kevin DeYoung starts his book, The Lord’s Prayer, like this:
“Is there any activity more essential to the Christian life, and yet more discouraging in the Christian’s life, than prayer?… We admire those who do pray. And yet when it comes to actually praying, most of us feel like failures.”
And I don’t know about you, but this really resonates with me!
I feel like I’m constantly feeling guilty for not praying more or feeling like my prayers are petty or pointless. In fact, I’ve been working on a blog post called ‘Why Pray?’ because I think more people struggle with prayer than they’d like to admit and I think we should talk about that.
Reading this book was great research for my post and great truth for my heart.
I’m sure there are a lot of books written on the Lord’s Prayer. It’s a popular Bible passage. Probably people who don’t even go to church know what the prayer is.
What makes DeYoung’s book unique?
Honestly, I don’t really know. It’s short?
I’ve only read a few books specifically on prayer. Tim Keller’s book Prayer is also phenomenal, but a more fleshed out version of this one.
I read several of Kevin DeYoung’s books and I’ve always appreciated his writing and find it easy to understand and very applicable.
I found this book to be very insightful and helpful to reference as I struggle through my prayer life.
I think this book engages more with the ‘How’ and the ‘What’ than the ‘Why’ but he does say this:
“We don’t pray because God needs help running the universe. We don’t pray to change God’s mind. We pray because God has ordained means to accomplish his ends. He has arranged things so that he will give more grace to those who petition him for it. God doesn’t need prayer, but he uses prayer just like he uses other means. He uses rain to grow the crops, sun to warm the earth, and food to strengthen the body. In the same way, God uses prayer to do his sovereign work. In prayer, we are not instructing God as much as we are instructing ourselves.”
I think we do tend to be so outward focused when we pray that we forget that prayer is for ourselves. To remind ourselves of who God is and how powerful and loving he is that we have the ability to approach him and the hope and evidence that he answers our prayers!
Each time we pray is an act of faith, trusting and depending on God, not ourselves. It’s acknowledging his sovereignty and maintaining communication with our heavenly Father.
I Rote It Off (Get it?)
I grew up in an Evangelical Free Church. We didn’t do many liturgical things. We said this prayer every so often but we didn’t regularly recite Scripture, creeds, etc together as a congregation. I remember thinking how rote it felt to all say the Lord’s Prayer together. It didn’t feel genuine to me, even as a kid.
I took pride in the fact that when my family sat down to pray before meals we didn’t just say the little sing-songy rhyming prayers. We spoke genuine words to God from our hearts. About our feelings and the day. We didn’t need to memorize a few lines to say as if that was ‘good enough.’
I say pride there because I mean pride. My younger self still had a lot to learn about prayer.
I’m an adult and I’m still learning!
Keller’s book helped me meditate on the oh-so-common Lord’s Prayer and so did DeYoung’s.
After all, these are the verses where Jesus specifically TEACHES us how to pray. That must mean they are important!
Really any prayer can become rote if our hearts and our minds aren’t engaged in what we’re doing.
This book has brought new light to the Lord’s Prayer for me so that when I say it I can think about each phrase and how important it is, the attitude and mindset behind the words, the posture before God as we pray.
Prayer Structure
Each chapter focuses on one phrase of the prayer. I like this because even if we don’t want to pray these exact words because they may not feel genuine, we are learning what they mean which can inform how we DO pray.
Why is ‘Our Father’ so significant? What does ‘Hallowed’ mean? What exactly is the kingdom of God? Should we say debts or trespasses? Can God lead us into temptation?
Dissecting these phrases helps us craft our own prayers that still reflect the ideas that Jesus infuses in his exemplary prayer.
DeYoung observes that the prayer is made up of six petitions that can be divided in threes:
“The first set of three requests focuses on God’s glory—his name, his kingdom, and his will. The second set of three requests focuses on our good—our provision, our forgiveness, and our protection.”
God’s glory and our good. I had never thought of the prayer this way.
DeYoung also pointed out that the last three petitions reflect the Trinity:
“You can almost see a Trinitarian structure in the prayer. God the Father is the Creator and provider who gives us our daily bread. God the Son is the atonement for our sins. And God the Spirit leads us and fills us with power to live a holy life.”
I love seeing how God’s nature is reflected in his Word.
God provides for our needs (daily bread)
Jesus paid the price for our sins (forgive us our debts)
The Holy Spirit empowers us to resist temptation and to reflect God’s character (deliverance)
Things I Liked
I liked how he briefly talks about how we call God Father and not Mother. I’m really kind of baffled by so many people all of a sudden deciding that God should have feminine pronouns. It’s a bit ironic that we, as a culture, are so invested in letting everyone choose their own pronouns but we won’t let God. Of all the beings, I think God is capable of revealing himself as he chooses and that should be respected. By I digress.
I liked how he pointed out that people so often try to make heaven on earth. They are trying to ‘build’ God’s kingdom here on earth. But that’s not right. Sure we can work towards helping people and making better policies, but if we make our mission more about turning earth into heaven than putting heaven in people’s hearts, we have misunderstood what Jesus means by the kingdom of God.
“The kingdom does not advance when trees are planted, or unemployment lowered, or beautiful art is created, or elections go one way or another. Those may all be important things. They may reflect certain values of the kingdom. But the kingdom comes when and where the King is known. When Jesus is loved and worshiped and believed upon, there the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
[He talks more about this in his book What is the Mission of the Church.]
I admit, this next quote really caught me off guard. I think I’ve used the terminology ‘building God’s kingdom’ or ‘growing’ his kingdom so it was really interesting to ponder how he says we use wrong verbiage for it all the time. I think I understand what he’s saying but it will be hard to change the way I talk about it.
“The kingdom can come, it can arrive, it can appear. But we do not establish the kingdom, expand the kingdom, or grow the kingdom. The kingdom of God is not a society to be built but a gift to be received. It is again like the sun breaking in. You don’t build the sun. You don’t make the sun. You can pray that the clouds would part. You can declare to people the rays and the warmth of the sun, but it’s not something you can build or bring. The kingdom is God’s kingdom, and we can receive it, seek it, enter it, or inherit it, but we do not create it, bring it, or even give it to others.”
I like how he differentiates between God’s will of decree and his will of desire.
I like how he talked about the necessity for daily bread. God doesn’t want us to ask us for all the bread we could ever need, a one and done kind of prayer. He wants us to come each day, trusting that he will give us what we need for today.
“Today’s grace is for today’s trials, and when tomorrow’s trials come, God will have new grace waiting for you there. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Don’t expect next year’s bread today. Anxiety is living out the future before it gets here… Don’t start living out the troubles of next Tuesday because you haven’t gotten to the grace that will be there waiting for you next Tuesday.”
I’ve preached this message to myself before. As a mom I worry a lot about my kids and what the next years may bring. I see other people’s struggles and pains and wonder- how could I ever survive that if it were to happen to me? But I’ve had to remind myself- God gives each person the grace they need for that day. I don’t need the grace today for what’s not happening today.
That’s kinda a freeing thought! Doesn’t it relieve the burden for us? We don’t have to be weighed down by all the things. God just wants us to depend on him and he will provide exactly what we need for each day.
I like how he says: “Forgiven people forgive.”
“Forgiveness is not saying that sin doesn’t matter. You’re not saying it’s no big deal. You’re saying God is bigger, the cross is bigger, and hell is bigger. Do not focus on what they owe. Focus on what God has already forgiven you.”
This is a hard truth to put into practice but I think I’ll find myself repeating that phrase to myself in the future when I want to hold onto that debt.
He makes a lot of clarifications about what forgiveness is and isn’t, but I thought it was interesting how he observes that forgiveness these days tends to be therapeutic. We forgive so that we no longer feel bitter. But that attitude loses the relational transaction of forgiveness. We also often wrongly say that we need to forgive God. But God has never done anything that requires forgiveness.
I like how he breaks down the temptation of Jesus by Satan and how Satan tempts him with pleasure, pride, and power.
“We can ask the question… in which room is the devil most likely to whisper into your ear? Is it the bedroom with its pleasures, the boardroom with its power, or the bathroom mirror with its pride? Know your enemy. Know yourself. And know from whence your help comes.”
Recommendation
This book is short— 160 pages— but I think it would be a great read for all people. I would venture that the Lord’s Prayer has lost some of its punch for most people and I think this book will reinspire the awe and wonder of our Lord and remind us that if prayer is dull, it’s because we’ve lost sight of who we’re praying to.
DeYoung mentioned at the beginning that a lot of books on prayer leave us feeling more guilty. He wanted to counter that here. This book definitely didn’t make me feel more guilty, but I haven’t decided if it made me feel less guilty.
There is no measure or standard of how many prayers constitute doing ‘a good job.’ And DeYoung tells us that the Bible doesn’t give any instruction on how often, what times, or how long to pray. There is freedom to prayer in those ways.
But I know I still have to be pretty intentional about praying throughout my day, it doesn’t come as naturally as talking to a friend. I’m not sure what the fix for that is except practice. And even just praying that God would help me make prayer a bigger part of my day.
I think Keller’s book has some helpful ideas of ways to pray that give a little more practical guidance. He also talks more about the ‘why’ so I think you should read both books.
I like that DeYoung affirmed we should never be ashamed to bring even the little things to our Father, God cares about those too, but tried to emphasize the importance of Jesus’ teaching us how to pray.
This book won’t take you long to read and it’s definitely worth your time!
[Sidenote: He says the first church he ever served at was in Orange City, Iowa! I went to NWC there! It makes total sense considering his last name is DeYoung, but I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to realize this connection since I love Kevin DeYoung’s books so much. Too bad he wasn’t teaching when I was at college.]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
Shelf Reflection Book Blog
Book Review Blog | Facebook | Pinterest
February 15, 2024
DeYoung is one of my favorite writers and preachers. This book was a clear and concise look at the Lord’s Prayer. I found this book via an interview about prayer and I was not disappointed.
August 13, 2024
Short, illustrative, and clear. Very helpful!
December 22, 2022
In typical KDY fashion, this is an eminently readable, engaging, and instructional little book. I believe that DeYoung achieves his aim (see the subtitle) and for that, the book receives top marks. I have a couple quibbles on some finer interpretive points (e.g., I don’t believe that the sixth petition is simply parallelism) and one source-critical point (i.e., I don’t believe that the “oldest” manuscripts are necessarily the “best”), which is one reason I docked a star off my rating. The other reason has to do with something that is less a demerit of this particular book as it is of this type of book in-general. There is a fine line between an instructional use and an out-of-place appearance of an historical source (in this case Herman Witsius) whose style and intended audience are radically different than those of the book in which the source is cited. I am not sure what the answer is other than not directly quoting the source in-question. Certainly, the insights from Witsius were very helpful and added to the exposition of the Lord’s Prayer in this book. But the style was jarring in its departure from the tone of the rest of the book. Overall, this is a great treatment of one of the most important passages of Scripture. I have heartily recommended it to my congregation, and I would do so to anyone.
April 16, 2025
Books like this are Deyoung’s sweet spot. The Lords Prayer is so familiar that it’s in danger of being overlooked by many of us. This book helps recover it as a school of prayer.
November 16, 2023
Usually in a church service where we say the Lord’s Prayer, I mumble the words along with the rest of the
congregation. I’ve always frankly found the prayer boring and a low tier appeal to God. This book really woke me up and DeYoung dished out more biblical heat. What a fool I’ve been for ignoring the very prayer Jesus gave his disciples to pray. This book filled me with appreciation to God for his gift of the Lord’s Prayer and a desire to pray earnestly for the things contained in it with confidence and zealousness.
congregation. I’ve always frankly found the prayer boring and a low tier appeal to God. This book really woke me up and DeYoung dished out more biblical heat. What a fool I’ve been for ignoring the very prayer Jesus gave his disciples to pray. This book filled me with appreciation to God for his gift of the Lord’s Prayer and a desire to pray earnestly for the things contained in it with confidence and zealousness.
December 7, 2024
This is my favorite type of book. Learning lesser-known biblical/historical context that puts a well-known topic or story into a new perspective is one of the most satisfying things ever
July 19, 2022
Kevin DeYoung's short commentary on this wonderful section of the Sermon on the Mount manages the double threat of being deeply insightful, whilst also incredibly readable! Lots to think through and digest, plenty of personal moments that make the book a 'warm' read, and the final prayer at the end of the book is something that I will come back to again.
A wonderful read!
A wonderful read!
August 11, 2025
DeYoung unpacks the Lord’s Prayer well… lots of food for thought in this one. Great stuff!!
May 20, 2022
First sentence: Is there any activity more essential to the Christian life, and yet more discouraging in the Christian life, than prayer? We know we should pray. We want to pray (or at least we want to want to pray). And yet when it comes to actually praying, most of us feel like failures.
Books on the Lord's Prayer is nothing new. That is what you might be thinking. And, you've got a point. So is this new book by Kevin DeYoung on the Lord's Prayer worth reading? I definitely think so.
DeYoung, like many before him, goes through the Lord's Prayer phrase by phrase. But I appreciate his insight. It isn't so much that the information is completely new or out of the blue, it's just so foundational that it is a blessing to read. Almost devotional, but not in that stereotypical fluffy way, but a substantive, thought-provoking way.
I wasn't expecting this much nourishment in 'just another' book about the Lord's Prayer. I was completely wrong. I definitely benefited from this one.
My three favorite quotes:
We would be greatly presumptuous to think that we could give God a new identity and a new name without doing violence to revelation and usurping God's divine prerogatives.
Today's grace is for today's trials, and when tomorrow's trials come, God will have new grace waiting for you there. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
What God wants us to see is that we are more fragile than we think, and he is much kinder to us than we imagine.
Books on the Lord's Prayer is nothing new. That is what you might be thinking. And, you've got a point. So is this new book by Kevin DeYoung on the Lord's Prayer worth reading? I definitely think so.
DeYoung, like many before him, goes through the Lord's Prayer phrase by phrase. But I appreciate his insight. It isn't so much that the information is completely new or out of the blue, it's just so foundational that it is a blessing to read. Almost devotional, but not in that stereotypical fluffy way, but a substantive, thought-provoking way.
I wasn't expecting this much nourishment in 'just another' book about the Lord's Prayer. I was completely wrong. I definitely benefited from this one.
My three favorite quotes:
We would be greatly presumptuous to think that we could give God a new identity and a new name without doing violence to revelation and usurping God's divine prerogatives.
Today's grace is for today's trials, and when tomorrow's trials come, God will have new grace waiting for you there. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
What God wants us to see is that we are more fragile than we think, and he is much kinder to us than we imagine.
October 11, 2023
Kevin DeYoung never misses.
Pairs nicely with Handbook for Praying Scripture
Pairs nicely with Handbook for Praying Scripture
June 14, 2022
When I read "Is there any activity more essential to the Christian life, and yet more discouraging in the Christian's life, than prayer," I knew this would be a good book for me. I know prayer is an amazing, beautiful gift and way to connect with the Father yet I can so easily be discouraged. In this book, DeYoung walks through "The Lord's Prayer" word by word or thought by thought. It was really helpful. My absolute favorite part though was the very ending prayer. He took all that he had discussed in the book and fleshed it out in an amazing prayer. I love it when books have an example of what they were talking about.
This book was very encouraging and never condemning. It has great reminders like this one. "...Understand that our God is not hard of hearing and he is not hard of heart. Speak to him. Shoot straight with him...You don't need to impress him. As your heavenly Father, he already loves you. You just need to show up and talk to him" (location 181).
Another helpful truth was the reminder that "What we need when we pray is less awareness of ourselves and more awareness of God" (location 255). When we start out in prayer with praise and adoration, we remind ourselves of how powerful and big God is. Keeping that in mind as we move on to prayers for help and protection and other requests encourages us to pray boldly because we just reminded ourselves that HE CAN DO IT! He can intervene. He can change things or change our hearts. He can give us grace to face the trial we're going through. He loves us and is always with us.
If you need encouragement in your prayer life, please check out this book. I'd highly recommend it. Thank you to Crossway for providing me with a free e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
This book was very encouraging and never condemning. It has great reminders like this one. "...Understand that our God is not hard of hearing and he is not hard of heart. Speak to him. Shoot straight with him...You don't need to impress him. As your heavenly Father, he already loves you. You just need to show up and talk to him" (location 181).
Another helpful truth was the reminder that "What we need when we pray is less awareness of ourselves and more awareness of God" (location 255). When we start out in prayer with praise and adoration, we remind ourselves of how powerful and big God is. Keeping that in mind as we move on to prayers for help and protection and other requests encourages us to pray boldly because we just reminded ourselves that HE CAN DO IT! He can intervene. He can change things or change our hearts. He can give us grace to face the trial we're going through. He loves us and is always with us.
If you need encouragement in your prayer life, please check out this book. I'd highly recommend it. Thank you to Crossway for providing me with a free e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
May 17, 2022
Kevin DeYoung's newest book came at a great time, as my church has been teaching through the book of Matthew and we are currently learning about the Lord's prayer. I found myself highlighting quite a few portions of this book and even putting some of the author's explanations of this very famous prayer in the margins of my study Bible. DeYoung fully explores each and every word in the prayer, helping us to more fully understand all the lessons Jesus was trying to teach his disciples within this prayer. It was an easy read, but still had the theological depth that other prayer books sometimes lack. I would definitely recommend this for someone looking to grow in their understanding of prayer.
I received a free digital copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received a free digital copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
June 7, 2022
Good book. Easy read. As always, KDY is engaging, witty, and thought provoking. I love his mind for alliteration which makes his teachings points more memorable. The prayer he wrote at the end is worth the price of the book.
July 4, 2023
Broken down by each phrase, and sometimes even specific words, Kevin DeYoung faithfully explores, the Lord’s Prayer, ultimately digging into the question many of us ask about prayer… “How can something I’m so bad at be God’s will for my life?”
May 24, 2022
This book was a very short and approachable overview of the Lord's Prayer and in turn, was a great overview on how to pray. I greatly appreciated KDY's encouragement and balance with the gospel. This is a book I would recommend to newer believers or those who are in a rut with praying. KDY's exhortation to pray doesn't come from a place of law, but rather a desire to point to God's glory. This was my first KDY book, but I would definitely be more open to reading more from him.
July 20, 2022
Deyoung accomplishes conveying the beauty and the significance of what the Lord’s Prayer means for Christians. A helpful and concise read.
January 19, 2023
An extremely helpful exposition of The Lord's Prayer, warm and accessible throughout and written with a keen eye toward practical application. Highly recommended.
December 30, 2024
Wonderful walk through of the Lord’s Prayer. The more we understand the structure of petitions the deeper our prayer should be. Kevin DeYoung wonderfully opens up these verses.
March 2, 2025
This is a very helpful, short book on understanding the Lord’s Prayer!
March 25, 2025
Whether you feel strong in your prayer life or are just figuring out how to pray, I would recommend this book to everyone. It’s straightforward while also profoundly breaking down the aspects of the Lord’s Prayer and what God wants us to pray about. It’s practical in helping you pray for everything. It’s glorifying to the Lord in reminding us that prayer is all about Him, not about us. If you want to grow in your ability to communicate with God; read this book.
July 22, 2025
Excellent. Short. Highly recommend.
November 18, 2025
Mooi devotioneel boek over het Onze Vader!
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