The Lord’s Prayer Misunderstood
Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke11:2-4
[9]This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father who are in heaven, hallowed be your name, [10]your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. [11]Give us this day our daily bread [12]and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us. [13]Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
The “daily bread” is not our earthly necessities. The “Daily Bread” is the Body of Jesus.
This part of the prayer is one sentence:
“Give us this day our daily Bread and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
The forgiveness of sins is the result of receiving the daily Bread, which is the Bread of life that God gives (John 6:32-33).
Jesus would never instruct us to pray for earthy necessities, as clear from His teachings throughout the bible. Example, sermon on the mount: “don’t worry about earthly needs, but seek God first…” (Matthew 6:31-33)
It is obviously implied to say the Lord’s Prayer “daily”. It would be disrespectful of us not to say it daily. Do you truly believe in Him when you’re not saying this prayer daily as He instructed?
You don’t have to chew on actual bread like some churches advise. You can receive God’s bread of life spiritually, by genuinely saying the Lord’s Prayer acknowledging the meaning of every word in it.
You might say, "what's the difference? as long as we pray the prayer." Oh there is a huge difference. Our spiritual communication with God is about what we mean. The words are meaningless unless we mean what they are in our hearts.
If you examine the original Aramaic version of this prayer, you’ll find two important facts:
1. No punctuation. Punctuation was added later in the translation. And in the case of this prayer, the translators made an error by adding a period between “…daily Bread” and “and forgive us…” There should be no punctuation there. Not because I said so, but because of all the Bible references (provided here below) that are consistent with that.
2. There were two words: “sins” and “trespasses”. “Sins” was used in reference to God. We trespass against humans, but we “sin” against God! Trespass is a soft word that lessens the significance of the offense, but when it comes to God, it is a deadly offense; proper word for it is “sins”. Jesus used the word “sins” throughout the scripture, not “trespasses”(example in John 9:41). So it’s not “… forgive us our trespasses…” It is “… forgive us our sins…”
Bible references supporting this:
“daily Bread” = Body of Jesus, not earthly necessities
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
Paul said: …there is one loaf… we all share the one loaf.
2 Corinthians 4:16:
Paul said: …Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.
John 6:32-33 and 6:51
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.” “For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
John 6:57
…the one who “feeds” on me… Using the term “feeds” implying continual. [… give us this day our daily Bread…]
John 6:58
Contains a very clear explanation showing a parallel between the Bread (His body) and the manna in the desert, which couldn’t be hoarded more than one day (Exodus 16:4). Thus, God’s desire for our daily dependence on Him.
John 15:5
The branch is continually nourished by the Vine. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. Without the Lord’s Prayer daily, a branch will wither and die.
Luke 11:13
Jesus said this right after he taught them His prayer. God is giving the Holy Spirit, “to those who ask Him”. It doesn’t get much clearer than this. Obviously, God will not give you the Holy Spirit unless you ask. But Jesus is clarifying here that by renewing yourself (daily through His prayer), you’ll cleansed and make-way to receive the Holy Spirit.
John 6:26-27
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
Jesus said this after they had been looking for Him all day, then found Him. Another big evidence that the "earthly bread", is not it in the Lord's prayer.
John 6
The entire Chapter 6 from John is all about this. The Pharisees did not get it then; Jesus knowing they did not get it, kept drilling it in with more of actual eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood throughout the chapter. And today you'd think we got it! But most churches and people still don't understand it. At best churches just call it: "basically He died for our sins..." or some other blanket statement like that. But no one knew to link it to the "daily Bread" in the Lord's prayer! Which provides our continuous feeding on Him. And keeping Him in us, and us in Him (John 15:4). This is so big, not to be taken lightly.
Wording crafted by God Himself
Many Christians think, “surely Jesus gave us this prayer as an example. That He didn’t mean for us to repeat it daily!”
He did!!; He [God] Personally word-smithed the words perfectly. Exactly as He did throughout history. After the fall He taught Adam and Eve how to present a sacrifice fitting to Him, He crafted the Leviticus law to Moses that had to be followed precisely, and finally the Lord’s Prayer, which is the optimum method compared to previous covenants. It's a prayer that we say in our hearts once a day. It keeps us close to God, and fulfills John 5:24: "Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life."
After saying the Lord’s Prayer, the communication channels with God become wide open (through the Holy Spirit within us of course). Afterwards we can say our own prayers using our words, making our request known to God… And He will answer.
I can guess why this prayer is no longer recited daily (except occasionally at some sports games, as a tradition). It is because people are well provided for these days. And therefore, feel they don’t need to bother God by asking for the daily bread anymore (implying earthly necessities), as they have plenty of them now. And that is a sad fact of today’s people.
The other sad fact is, many people today equate earthly blessings to spiritual blessings - they drive up in their latest model SUVs to the biggest church in town… When it is the exact opposite. Having a lot of earthly riches actually equates to going to hell later (Matthew 19:24 "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”"), unless God is truly in the center of our lives.
Accepting this Biblical-fact: that a true believer must pray the Lord’s Prayer daily may seem difficult at first. This is because most churches have brainwashed people for years into thinking “do nothing, nothing at all, just mark the front of your Bible with the date you were saved / born-again / etc.”. This daily prayer to God is not “works”. It is obedience of a true believer. No wonder there is no peace on earth yet (Luke 2:14). No one has been praying it properly.
Miracles happen when we pray the Lord’s Prayer
The moment we say this prayer we become "Righteous" in the eyes of God, and therefore become standing in the presence of God (through the Holy Spirit within us) (Luke 1:19, 1Kings 18:15).
A true believer can perform miracles at this moment.
This is how Jesus performed miracles:
Step 1: Forgive sins
Step 2: Miracle
Mark gave us a glimpse of this in Mark 2:5, 11, & 12. Without Step1, can’t do Step2.
So, for us it is:
Step 1: The Lord’s Prayer for the forgiveness of sins
Step 2: In the name of Jesus Christ… miracle
But without the main ingredient, faith, nothing can be done. Even Jesus Himself could not perform miracles where there was no faith among people of that town (Mark 6:5).
He instructed His followers; to perform miracles in His name (John 14:12-14, Mark 16:17-18, Mark 9:39).
Go ahead, start praying this prayer daily. And pray it again in the presence of someone in need of a miracle. And don't freak-out when the miracle happens, it would show lack of faith. Jesus said we can move mountains (Matthew 17:20), and that we will do greater miracles than the ones He did! That's right, that's what Jesus said in John 14:12-14. And also in Acts 2:17 “’In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams."
We are there now; much closer to the "last days" now than they were back when Acts was written. I believe praying the Lord's Prayer properly will usher-in this new generation of people as predicted in John and Acts.
