The Lord's Prayer

1. The Lord’s Prayer – 2nd November 2015
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed he thy name. Matthew 6:9… The prayer for many ages has been called
among Christians "theLord's Prayer," is aboveall eulogiumfor its sweetness. No wonder this is so! Jesus Christ
presents itas a specimen, as a model for prayer when His disciples asked Himas to how they should pray.
Jesus had observed how many said their prayers. He said,“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for
they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they
have received their reward in full. Strong words because a lot of Jews atthat time wanted others to see them as
being devout people. Of courseeven today we see this occurrence…for others to see! In this same passagewe can
read that Jesus tells us the manner we should pray becauseour father who is omnipresent knows us,our needs
and the request we make to be between you and God without external disturbances. 6 “But when you pray, go into
your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in
secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be
heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask
him (Matthew 6:5-8).
Then Jesus taught them how they should pray as we can learn from (Matthew6: 9 – 14). We all know this prayer
and may have prayed this prayer more than a 1000 times or more duringthe courseof our lives.But we need to
inquireas to the depth of our understandingand of the thoughts involved in this comprehensive prayer.Firstwe
can observe the petitions which relate to God's glory.Simple word with great meaning in the praiseof God. “Our
Father in heaven, hallowed be your name… Let thy name be made holy. God's name represents himself. Itis a
prayer that his name, and himself as represented by his name, may be regarded as holy-spoken of as holy-treated
as holy.As we can read in Isaiah 6:3 " And they were calling to one another:“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD
Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” That is the central thought that ought to be our deepest desire as
we begin praying,that God may be regarded, and spoken of, and treated, as holy. In today’s world, Gods name is
misused in every nook and corner, movies and in speech!. We can learn in Exodus 20:7 - “You shall not misuse the
name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name”.
Then in the Lord’s prayer we read of a second petition, "…your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is
in heaven.." The Greek word which is rendered "kingdom" in the text requires three English words to convey its
meaning. Primarily theword means "kingship,"the condition of being a king, the possession of royal power. Then
secondarily itmeans "reign," the exerciseof royal power. As a final derivation which means what we call
"kingdom," subjects or territory over whom or in which this royal power is exercised.Kingship,and reign, and
kingdom. The leadingthought here is evidently that which we express by the word "reign." Messianicreign of
which David had sung; which John the Baptist had declared was now near at hand, and Jesus at the beginning of
his ministry in Galileetook up the same cry, "The kingdom of heaven is near at hand; repent therefore and
believe the good tidings." Men had long prayed that that reign might come, and now there was all the more
propriety in such a prayer, for it was near at hand.
The third petition is an expansion of the preceding. Whenever God's reign has fully come, we pray that His Will be
done on earth in the same why as in Heaven. “…your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in
heaven... Today we can observe that almosteverything occurs againstor not in accordanceto God's will.Even as
Christians attimes even when itis something we want to do is against God's will,which to us is painful….In such a
situation,how many of us would purposefully say,"Thy will bedone..." When Paul was told by others not to go up
to Jerusalem,he could not be persuaded…he simply said:"The will of the Lord be done." As we constantly pray
"Thy will bedone..." In the world today, if we absolutely believeand behave in all things this way,certainly would
not this world be a much better place?
We can find,practical lessons when we turn to the second partof the prayer, which contains petitions relatingto
ourselves."Give us this day our daily bread." Some may tell you that this means spiritual bread. Instead of deep
theology, we can believe it is plainly a prayer with reference to a day after day need. A littlechild sees its meaning

2. and feels its sweetness, and the wisestman can find no higher wisdom than to pray to God: "Give us this day our
daily bread." Some may inquireif itbe the giftof God, how can it be the effort of our own labor? Becauseas much
as we believe spiritual good is a giftof God, so is temporal good a gift of God, though itis obtained only by human
effort. Both are gifts of God, and both arethe resultof our own exertions.
" And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.." "Forgive us our debts" means, forgive us our
sins.This is a very important prayer.Here we are seeking God’s forgiveness and promises our forgiveness to others
who has done harm to us. It is a twofold prayer-forgiveness for our pastsin,and deliverancefrom sin in the future.
We may be forgiven our sin, as we promise to forgive others. Love and forgiveness aretwo very important
teachings given to us by Jesus.As Christianswe know that without receivingGod’s forgiveness for our sins,we are
spiritually dead and distanced ourselves fromGod. Therefore we pray and seek His forgiveness whilewe promise
forgiveness to others. It is importantto understand that we are statingthat we “have already forgiven” others as
required by Him and therefore worthy to receive His forgiveness. Becausewe must remember as taught to us in
Matthew 6:14-15 - “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins..,” As we have
stated above it is a twofold prayer. Itcannot work one way….When we seek His forgiveness we must also forgive
others who trespassed againstus.Therefore as Christiansletus not forget this extremely importantrequirement
that God has placed within this prayer.
And finally, in the Lord’s Prayer: "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.." Why?
Because we are afraid wecannot stand temptation. Every man that knows himself will mostcertainly feel an echo
in his heart, "I am weak, O Lord bringme not into temptation." We pray daily for God’s presence protection and
provision…becauseas humans we are weak and susceptibleto sin when faced in different form or the other.
Therefore as Christians wemust not only “keep on babblinglikepagans”as Jesus said in thesame paragraph,but
with concerned thoughtfulness pray to God that you may be kept away from temptation, and protect us from the
evil one… "Bringus not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Therefore, for Christians, this simplebutGod
given prayer can be the very model for our praying.Its spiritought to strikeinto our hearts,shapingour whole
character,regulatingour whole life.And as we pray it, that itbe meaningful and not simply as a memorized
childhood teaching.