I recently discovered an old prayer that has become my new favorite to pray before I read the Bible. It might become your new favorite, too.
This new favorite prayer is actually an old Anglican prayer. But before I share it with you, I want to talk about reciting memorized prayers like this one.
Memorized prayers can be a blessing or a trap. They’re a blessing when we actually pray them from our hearts. But they’re a trap when we let ourselves slide into mindless praying.
Mindless praying—not thinking about what we’re saying as we pray—is not really praying at all, is it? It’s just saying words.
Have you ever done this? I was guilty of it for much of my childhood.
Each night before dinner, my family would recite the same blessing:
Bless this food for our use and us to thy service for Christ’s sake. Amen.
When my turn came, I would blitz through it as if it were just one long word:
Bless-this-food-for-our-use-and-us-to-thy-service-for-Christ’s-sake-amen.
That’s not really praying. I was just flying through the words so I could get to the food.
Recently though I heard a pastor recite this old Anglican prayer, and rather than it making we want to blitz through it, it inspires me to slow down and ponder as I pray rather than speed up so I can get to the reading.
Old Anglican Prayer
When I first heard this prayer, the pastor prayed it on behalf of his congregation and himself. He prayed each line with care as if he were standing before the very throne of God.
He prayed:
Father, what we know not, teach us.
What we have not, give us.
What we are not, make us.
For Your Son’s sake. Amen.
So, let’s take a thoughtful look now at each line of this short—but powerful—prayer.
Father, What I Know Not, Teach Me
Nothing matters more than what we know and believe about God and His Word. He gave us the Bible so that we can glorify Him by knowing Him and His salvation through Jesus Christ, His Son.
No book in history matters more than the Bible because the Bible is all about Him.
But while we walk this earth, not even the brightest among us will master it. We’ll always need God to teach us more so we can know Him better.
So, let’s pray to the Father “What we know not, teach us.”
Teach us Your Word.
Teach us more about who You are.
Teach us what it looks like to respond with true belief in You and Your Word.
Oh Father, what we know not, teach us.
What I Have Not, Give Me
Paul asked in First Corinthians 4:7, “What do we have that we didn’t receive?” He’s right, of course.
God is the Creator and giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). Our lives, salvation, even our “daily bread” come from our heavenly Father (Matt. 6:11).
Second Peter 1:3 tells as believers, that God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him.
But He also tells us in James 4:2 that we don’t have because we don’t ask. But then in the next verse He says we ask but don’t receive because we ask with wrong motives.
We need to ask Him for what He says in James 1:5. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
Whatever needs we have, our heavenly Father knows them before we do, so let’s come boldly to the throne of grace and pray to the Father, “What we have not, give us.”
Give us wisdom to understand your Word rightly and live it out faithfully.
Give us hearts that hunger to know You and obey Your Word — hearts that long for Your will above our own.
And give us power to walk in a manner worthy of You, Lord.
Father, “What we have not, give us.”
And Father, What I Am Not, Make Me
I can’t speak for you, but what I am not is a continual and perfect reflection of Christ. Oh, how I need God to make me more and more like His Son.
None of us are today what we will one day become—what we long to become—and that’s like Christ! But praise God that He who began a good work in us has promised He will carry it out to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:6; 1 John 3:2).
So, let’s pray to the Father: “What we are not, make us.”
Make us into the glorious image of Your Son (Rom. 8:29).
Make us an overflow of the sweet fruit of Your Spirit.
Make us humble, loving, joyful, peace-filled, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled.
Oh, Father, what we are not, make us.
For Your Son’s Sake
Jesus died so we may live.
We live so we may glorify the Father by our love for Christ, our devotion to Him.
Our lives are not our own. We were bought with the precious blood of Christ (1 Cor. 6:20).
So let’s pray to the Father for the sake of Christ’s great name and to the praise of God’s glorious grace that He lavished on us in His Son, the Beloved One (Eph. 1:6).
Simple but Not Shallow
This prayer, as I said, is simple, but it is not shallow.
For a heart that truly seeks after God, this prayer is steeped with deep meaning.
Of course, if we’re not careful, we could just turn this prayer into nothing more than mindless recitation. We could blitz through it without thinking, like I did my childhood dinner blessing. Oh, let’s not do that.
Instead, let’s linger over these words with true faith and open, expectant hearts.
God alone knows the depths and heights of what He will do in us when we pray this old prayer (that’s become my new favorite) as if we were standing before His very throne.
The next time you sit down with your Bible consider praying this old and powerful prayer:
Father, what I know not, teach me.
What I have not, give me.
What I am not, make me.
For Your Son’s sake. Amen.
