This Old Prayer Changed the Way I Read My Bible

Was your family like mine? Each night before dinner, we recited the same blessing: 

Bless this food for our use and us to thy service for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Whenever my parents said the blessing, they took their time as they recited it. But when my turn came, I blitzed through it as if it were one long word: 

Bless-this-food-for-our-use-and-us-to-thy-service-for-Christ’s-sake-amen. 

Mindless prayer is always a danger, but particularly so when we recite memorized prayers. But one day I discovered a prayer that inspires me to slow down and ponder as I pray rather than speed up. This old prayer has become my new favorite to pray before reading my Bible. It might become yours too. 

I first heard this Anglican prayer while listening to a sermon online. The pastor recited each line with care, as if he were standing before the very throne of God.

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.

Let’s take a thoughtful look at this prayer together.

Father, What I Know Not, Teach Me 

Nothing matters more than knowing and believing God and His Word. He gave us the Bible so we can glorify Him by knowing Him and His salvation through Jesus Christ, His Son. 

No book in history matters more than the Bible. 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 and understand more fully how to live in this world as His faithful children. 

But first, we must know Christ as our Savior because the Bible is a spiritual book, and it can only be understood by His Spirit. At salvation, the Father sends the Holy Spirit to indwell every true believer. He is our Teacher. 

As we read and study the Bible, the Holy Spirit illuminates our hearts and minds and helps us understand what God wants us to know and believe from His Word. 

So let’s pray: “Father, what we know not, teach us.”

What I Have Not, Give Me

First Corinthians 4:7 asks this question: “What do we have that we didn’t receive?” God is the Creator and giver of every good and perfect gift, not us (James 1:17). Our lives, salvation, and even our “daily bread” come from our heavenly Father (Matt. 6:11). 

As believers, we have salvation, eternal life, and the Holy Spirit. But we still have many more needs, including godly wisdom to rightly respond to God’s Word (James 1:5). We also need the desire and the power to obey His Word (Phil. 2:12–13). 

Perhaps most convicting to me is what we see Jesus ask the Father for in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). May God give each of us hearts that desire His will above all else. 

Our Father knows what each of us needs that will best glorify Him, accomplish His good will, and make our joy complete. 

So let’s pray to the Father: “What we have not, give us.”

What I Am Not, Make Me

I cannot 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 become one day—what we long to become—but praise God that He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:6; 1 John 3:2). 

Each of us needs God to transform us into the glorious image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). We all need God to continue His work of transformation in us, so that we’ll overflow with fruitfulness—with the fruit of His Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

So let’s pray to the Father: “What I am not, make me.”

For Your Son’s Sake

Jesus died so we may live. We live so we may glorify the Father by the power of His Spirit who lives in us. Our lives are not our own. We were bought with the precious price of Christ’s blood (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 old prayer may be simple and short, but it is not shallow. For a heart that truly seeks after God, it is deep with meaning. 

Of course, if we’re not careful, we could turn this prayer into nothing more than a meaningless recitation. We could blitz through it without thinking, just as I did my childhood dinner blessing. 

May it never be. 

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 when we pray this old prayer that’s become my new favorite—as if we were standing before His very throne.

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.