The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer is probably the most taught and followed prayer in the entire bible. There are many other prayers for many different situations and circumstances that are as note worthy but this one is by far the most covered and taught about! Many of us are taught this prayer as children and can recite it from memory. This was a prayer that Jesus admonished His disciples to follow! The prayer shows many aspects of God’s nature, desires and wants from us! This is truly a disciples prayer! Let us pray as Jesus taught so we might know we are reaching the throne of God!
Matthew 6: 9-13
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
I am going to give some of my thoughts on The Lord’s Prayer. As I said, this is just some of my thoughts not instructions for you.
The first thing we see in this prayer is that we are to acknowledge God as our Father who is in Heaven! God is in heaven and is the supreme ruler or the entire universe and all that is there in and has all power!
Hallowed be thy name, is a wonderful thing to me! God’s name is above all names and is to be loved and adored by us! His name is wonderful and in his name we can only find redemption for sins! How beautiful is the name of our God!
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven, How is God’s kingdom to come as we live here and His will to be done?
Jesus said, In Luke 17:21 Jesus said, “The kingdom is within you”. The kingdom of God has come to as many as has believed in Him. We have received the kingdom when we received Jesus as Saviour!
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,. How is this to come to pass? We have been a series of study on Discipleship at our church. Our pastor has been admonishing us to become true disciples of Jesus. If God’s will is to be done “in earth” as it is in heaven then there has to be people performing His will here! Without becoming a disciple it is not possible to live in the fullness of God! The teachings on disciple is lengthy and I do not have room for it in this article. Seek to become a disciple so we can see God’s will performed here in our own lives! One thing I will insert here is Pauls admonishment in,
Romans 12: 1-2
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Paul admonishes us to present ourselves to God and to not be conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of our minds! We are transformed when we follow the word of God and speak His words daily! It is His word that transforms us! We do this that we may do good in His sight and show His will.
The bottom line in this entire chapter of Romans, which you should read and study is, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good”.
Give us this day our daily bread. We need to look to God as our sole provider and soul provider! We have to learn that God is not controlled nor is He changed by our circumstances or our economy! God is the same and never changes! In the book of Malachi 3:6 For I am the Lord, I change not. God let us know he he is the unchanging God! His personality, nature, words and ways never change.
Jesus said in this same chapter of Matthew verse 7, “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they”?
God truly is our provider and we need to become disciples and learn to trust Him!
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. We are to forgive our debtors and when we become disciples of Jesus we can truly do this. There are so many 20 year christians who are still only in their first year of learning. This is obvious when we see jealousy, envy, bitterness, hared, strife, and all the other things that hinder people from maturing is Christ! We need to die to this flesh daily in order to put on the attributes of Jesus. It does not just happen overnight! This is a growing process! We have to learn to become servants (disciples) before we can become warriors!
A good example of this is when the Prodigal Son “came to Himself”. After losing everything by his greed and prideful living he realized, “I am not even worthy to be called a son” I will go to my Father and say, Like 15: 18-19, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants”. Sometimes our circumstances create servants out of us! We learn to forgive when we are forgiven! The father ignored his statement and received him with open arms! That is how God has done us! Should we not do the same for each other?
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:, in this comment we need to continually pray and look to God for His continual protection from Satan! We need to know that God will not allow any temptation on us but what we are able to bear by his grace.
1 Corinthians 10:13
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
God will deliver us from all evil!
Psalm 34:4
I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. The ending of the prayer is similar to the beginning in recognizing God! The beginning of the Lord’s Prayer recognizes him as our Father and the end recognizes him as the owner of it all! This speaks of the Kingdom , power and glory all belonging to God for all eternity! What an appropriate ending! Giving it all to God!
I have over the years prayed in many ways! We even make a prayer vigil over saying a simple blessing over our food. Sometimes I felt I had to pray long prayers in order for God to hear me or pray a certain way! Many times I have wondered if my prayers were even heard!
I read a comment by Joyce Meyer in the Everyday Life Bible (Amplified Version) and she commented that ” I believe God has instructed me to make my request to Him with as few words as possible. I understand more and more why he has ask me to pray this way. I find if I can keep my request simple and not confuse the issue by trying to come up with too many words, my prayers actually are more clear and powerful”!
I understand what she is saying. Sometimes we feel like we have to pray for everything under the sun in order to please God! This is not true! God knows all of our concerns and needs before we pray for them. We do not need to try to impress God or ourselves with long and lengthy prayers. We need to pray in a simple and precise way! God want us to pray and make our request before him. He also wants us to communicate with him throughout the day! Short and uncomplicated has helped me in my prayer life also.
When I pray shorter prayers that are to the point without a lot of confusing words and phrases to make them longer my faith is released in a greater way. I know God has heard my prayers as none of it is pretentious or unnecessary!
When we pray we need to have confidence in our prayers. We need to be very honest and open with God about our prayer life. If we are not praying enough, we need to pray more. Try to be precise and simple in your prayers without the colorful phrases, just make your request known before God and release your faith in him. Keep it as short and simple as possible.
Doctors say it is healthier to eat several small meals a day rather than two or three large ones. I am under the impression it is better to pray several short and precise prayers a day than just one or two lengthy prayers full of many words. Short, sincere and precise prayers are heard!
There are times for intercessory prayer and sometimes this can be lengthy! My prayers of thanks can sometimes be the longest of my prayers because I simply want to thank and praise Him for who he is and what he has done for me.
However you interpret The Lord’s Prayer, it is a wonderful model for us to follow!
To me it is the simplicity of it that makes it so powerful! This prayer in my opinion is a guideline on how to pray not necessarily a prayer to memorise and repeat with no more sincerity that other scriptures we recite from memory. In verse 7, just before Jesus quoted this prayer to his disciples he said, “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” (Long prayers)
Below are a couple of books on The Lord’s Prayer by R. C. Sproul and Thomas Watson. This will give you others perspectives on this wonderful prayer.
Photo of Blessing Food by: Chris Yarzab
If you have enjoyed this article on the Lord’s Prayer or have suggestions that help you in your prayer life please feel free to leave a comment below!
