The Lord’s Prayer

Jesus, teaching his disciples how to pray, gave them what we now call the Lord’s Prayer. It contains a general format of how to pray and what to pray for.

I was listening to a commentary on this prayer one night and the speaker pointed out something I hadn’t really thought of before.

Look closely at what you’re actually praying for:

Matthew 6
9“This, then, is how you should pray:

“ ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’

Notice the bit about asking God to forgive your debts as you have forgiven your debtors.

This prayer is basically an open invitation to God to ask Him to judge you by the same standard you’re applying to your debtors.

Are we forgiving our debtors? If so, we’re asking God to forgive us the same way we have forgiven them.

Are we not forgiving our debtors? Then we are asking God to not forgive us.

The speaker of the commentary concluded the Lord’s Prayer is a kind of dangerous prayer, in a sense, when we are asking God to judge us by a standard of unforgiveness. Before you pray the Lord’s prayer, make sure you have forgiven your debtors.

This perfectly coincides with Jesus' other teachings on forgiveness.

Here's one such example:

Matthew 18

21Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. 23Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. 24And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 25But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. 28But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 29And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. 31So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 32Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 34And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

I say this prayer everyday before I go to work in the morning.

Jesus prayed that all Christians be one and we’re not very good at being united. But one thing that all Christians have in common is the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, The Lord’s Prayer, The Our Father. There are great riches in anything God teaches us and surely in this prayer.

A problem with praying the Lord’s Prayer, is that, all of us know it so well that sometimes we don’t even think about what we are saying when we pray it. So I’d like to examine this prayer, so that we can better understand it and pray it from the heart.

The prayer begins with our giving glory and praise to God, and then turns to our own needs.

The prayer starts “Our Father”, just two words, but they say many things. Jesus reveals to us that God is not just an all-powerful God and Creator, but that He is truly a real Father to each of us. Through Baptism and belief in Jesus, we have become adopted children of God the Father, Sons of God. And our relationship with the Father is a family relationship.

Notice, the prayer doesn’t start with “Father” or “My Father”. The prayer starts “Our Father” this tells us that each of us has the same Father in heaven. If this is the case, as sons and daughters of God, we are brothers and sisters with each other and also brothers with Jesus Christ, the Father’s only begotten Son.

God’s family is large, there are many angels and saints in heaven already; they are part of God’s family and part of our family also.

The prayer continues, “Who Art in Heaven”. God is everywhere, so why does Jesus refer to the Father as being in heaven? He wants us to raise our hearts and minds to heaven, because that is where we belong.

Heaven is the Father’s house to where we are all called. Jesus told us that He has prepared a place in heaven for all His disciples. He has prepared a place for us.

“Hallowed be Thy Name”; affirms that God’s name is all Holy. When we pray, Hallowed be Thy Name, we need to recognize that, as God’s children, everything we do reflects back on the Father’s Name. When we do good it reflects on His name, and when we do evil, that also reflects on His name. As His children, we should always desire to make the Father’s Name holy in our lives.

“Thy Kingdom Come”; “Thy Kingdom Come” doesn’t refer to some future event, it refers to the here and now. When Jesus started His ministry He told us, The Kingdom of God is at hand, it’s here, and He promised He would never leave us.

God’s kingdom is active right now, here on earth and over the whole universe.

All of us believe that whenever two or more are gathered in Jesus’ name, He’ll be present in their midst. Jesus is here with us now. And where Jesus, the King of Kings is, that is where you will find the kingdom of God. We are in God’s Kingdom right now. The Kingdom has come and we are part of the kingdom.

“Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is in heaven”; Here, we ask the Father to unite our wills to His. The only thing in the universe that isn’t under God’s control is us. When God made us in His Own Image and He gave us free wills, to accept or reject Him and His Will.

Here, we pray that we may cooperate with the Father’s will in all our thoughts and actions. Most of the time, when we pray, we pray for what we want. When we pray Thy Will be done, we correct that selfish tendency.

And what is God’s will? The Father’s will is simple, it’s love, compassion, and mercy. Jesus summed up the Father’s Will when He said, “Love God with your whole heart and your neighbor as yourself.”

How important was the Father’s Will to Jesus? You know that it wasn’t Jesus’ will to suffer the crucifixion. He fell on His knees and asked the Father to take that cup away from Him, but He immediately added, Thy Will be done, not Mine. It was the very purpose why Jesus came to earth, to do the Father’s Will.

And the Father’s Will is very important for us also. Jesus told us clearly, “Many will call out to Him, Lord, Lord and would not be saved. But those that do the Will of the Father shall be saved. (Matt 7:21)

“Give us this day our Daily Bread”; here we show our trust and dependence on the Father for all our physical and spiritual needs. We look to Our Father to give us what we need to sustain our physical lives, food, clothing, and shelter.

But more importantly, we ask the Father to give us what we need for our spiritual lives, we ask for Jesus Christ, the True Bread of Life. Jesus told us, “I am the true bread from heaven and whoever eats of this bread shall have eternal life. And I will abide in him and He in Me. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

“And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us”; this request to the Father is a two edged sword. We ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness, but only if we are merciful and forgiving to others.

Immediately after teaching the apostles ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ Jesus told them, “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.“ (Matt 6:14)

Understand something about the nature of forgiveness. When we truly forgive others for the wrongs they have done to us, we’re not doing them any favors, but ourselves. When we forgive, we take away the chains of the stings, resentments, and the bitterness of the wrongs they have done to us. Our forgiveness frees us from things that make us miserable.

Forgiving our enemies does not mean having to be pals with them or even seeing them again. What it does mean is letting go of hatred and grudges. In your heart, wish your enemies well, say a prayer for them, and move on.

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”; here we ask God to help us not to make the choices that lead to sin and separation from Him. We’re also asking the Father for more than help, we’re asking Him to take total control and deliver us from Satan when our life on earth ends.

“Amen”; is an affirmation that we sincerely believe and mean all we have prayed.

A FINAL NOTE: Notice that, when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we are never praying just for ourselves, We don’t pray My Father, give me, forgive me, lead me. Instead we pray Our Father, give us, forgive us, lead us. We’re praying for all of our brothers and sisters, for all of God’s family.

I'm pretty sure that's the whole reason why it's worded that way.

Immediately after teaching the apostles ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ Jesus told them, “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.“ (Matt 6:14)

I pray it every night because I know I sin daily and know people will do you wrong whether you know it or not. But praying it before I finally go to bed I am assured I don't go to bed thinking about if I am done wrong, but I think about knowing I have forgiven and am forgiven.

It seems to me that you try to be good, but when you fail on occasions, you are comforted with knowing that Christ's death erases your sin, and you go on sinning. Salvation is a state of being produced by God who erases your sins through trust in Jesus and perfects you by filling you with both the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. They fill your heart with the same love that they share so that all our thoughts and actions are motivated by Love for God first and everyone else as you love yourself. That is what being born again is all about. WIth this love we are obeying the Spirit of the Law and will not sin. Without this love we will , on occasion, be putting ourselves first even if it means wrongly harming others. For those that don't have it, it seems like an impossible task and they revert to trying to obey the letter of the law. It is through this divine love that we are perfected and made acceptable to God. You are pre-determined by the Father in His Book of Life before the world was, you get your sins washed away by the Son through His death on the cross, and you get perfected by the Holy Spirit of the Father and Son when they fill your heart with love.

Everyone was predetermined to be in a RELATIONSHIP with God. But just like Joshua confronting the 12 Tribes of Israel, he said STOP your adultery with other gods, but THIS DAY HE [[CHOOSES]] to follow God.