The Lord's Prayer

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 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. 

This prayer was given to be a model for our own praying. Our Lord did not say, "In these words pray," rather He said, "After this manner therefore pray." I see nothing wrong with Christians praying this prayer from their hearts. It can become a ritual, but then many times our praying becomes a ritual. The fault does not lie with the prayer; the fault lies with the one who is doing the praying. 

In the Lord's Prayer, or the disciples' prayer, we have three essentials for effective praying. First, there is relationship: "Our Father who art in heaven." Then responsibility: "Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done." And then requests: "Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts, and lead us not into temptation."

These are the three essentials for true, effective praying, and if we'll model our praying after these essentials, God can begin to work in our lives in our prayer life in a very wonderful way. 

Let's take this first essential: relationship. "Our Father which art in heaven." Now, this is a twofold relationship. It's a relationship to God's family—"Our Father"—and it's a relationship to God Himself—"Our Father."

It's rather interesting that there are no singular pronouns in the Lord's Prayer. If you and I were going to write this prayer, it wouldn't say "Our Father," it would say "My Father." It wouldn't say "Give us this day," it would be "Give me this day my daily bread." Throughout this prayer, the Lord Jesus Christ points out that when we pray, we are part of a family. 

You may pray in solitude, but you can never pray alone. You may pray in solitude in your own room, but you can never pray independently. In fact, this spirit of independence that creeps into our prayer life is what weakens our prayer life. No Christian can ever pray alone. He is a part of a big family. There is one God, there is one Savior, there is one plan of salvation, there is one Word that we are following, and as a consequence, we cannot pray alone. 

Now, it's too bad when our praying gets selfish. It's too bad when all we think about is our church, our Sunday school class, what we want. You see, in my praying, I have no right to ask God for anything that's going to help me but hurt you. If I love you, I won't ask for something that's going to hurt you.

In our praying, we must be very, very careful to pray "Our Father." Now, how can I maintain a good relationship with God's family? What the Lord is saying here is simply this: if I am not in a good relationship with you, I cannot come really and pray to my Father. 

Now, it's important. We have the idea in evangelical churches today that we can fight each other and then come to the Father and say, "Father, give me this and do this and do something else." The Word of God says no. If I don't love my brother, if I'm not concerned about my brother, if our church is not concerned about the church up the street where they're preaching the gospel, then our prayer life is going to be hindered.

To begin with, I must have a forgiving spirit toward my brother. If I don't forgive you, why should God forgive me? It's not a matter of law; it's a matter of understanding the grace of God. And so I must have a forgiving spirit. "When you stand praying, forgive one another," said the Lord Jesus. 

I think, secondly, it also involves humility. You know, sometimes our praying turns out to be boasting. In Luke 18:9, the Lord Jesus Christ gave a parable about two men who went up to pray.

It's a familiar parable, Luke 18:9: "And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican." Now, here's a man who could not say "Our Father" because he was not in good relationship with his brother here. Humility is important. 

Thirdly, there must be unity among God's people. In 1 Timothy 2:8, the apostle Paul writes like this: "I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting." Without wrath and doubting means without anger and disputing.

So there has to be a forgiving spirit, humility, unity, unselfishness. In James 4:1-3, he talks about selfishness in praying. "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." This was causing wars and fightings among the saints to whom James was writing. Selfishness in our praying—it's terrible the way some people pray as though they are the only ones God ever listens to. 

Finally, there must be love. If we're not loving one another, God is not going to hear and answer our prayers as He would like to. This is especially true of husbands and wives.

1 Peter 3:7, Peter has been talking to the wives about how they should dress and how they should act, and now he writes to the husbands, 1 Peter 3:7: "Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered." How about that? If a husband is not treating his wife the way he should, their prayers are going to be hindered. Our Father. 

That's the first relationship: our relationship to other Christians. Secondly, our relationship to God, our Father. True prayer means talking to the Father. He is the Father. Now, I know there's one sense in which God is the Father of everyone as the Creator, but we're talking here about the Father spiritually.

He is the Father only to those who have trusted His Son as their Savior. We pray to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. And to be able to say "Our Father," you have to be in the family of God. 

It is so important that we have a good relationship with God, and this begins with salvation. Number two, I must have faith; really trust Him. Number three, I must be in the Word of God. John 15:7: "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." I must know His Word. After all, prayer means I am talking to the Father; the Word means the Father's talking to me. 

Then I must have a clean heart. Psalm 66:18: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." That word "regard" means to know that something evil is there, to approve of it, and to keep it there. To regard iniquity means I see something in my life that is wrong, but I refuse to deal with it.

Now, if I have that kind of a condition, I cannot really come and say, "Father," because I'm out of fellowship with God. Our Father which art in heaven. True praying begins with a right relationship—a right relationship to other Christians and a right relationship to our Father in heaven. Relationship—this is where effective praying begins. 

But effective praying also involves responsibility. And here we have the first three requests in the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6:9: "Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." We have a threefold responsibility if we are going to pray effectively. We must honor God's name, we must hasten God's kingdom, and we must obey God's will. 

Hallowed be thy name. Now, the name of God means the sum total of all that He is. A person's name really represents the person. Now, God is concerned about His name, and He wants His name to be glorified. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ did when He was here on earth. "Father, glorify thy name," John 12:28. In His prayer recorded in John 17, our Lord said, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." The purpose of prayer is the glory of God's name. 

The second responsibility we have is to hasten God's kingdom: Thy kingdom come. The Greek verb in that phrase means to come as a crisis, to come instantly. It's not a process he's talking about. Now, the spiritual kingdom is with us right now. When a person is born again, he enters into the kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is in heaven as a King and a Priest. Now, the kingdom of God is here spiritually. Wherever Jesus is, the kingdom is there. 

But the Bible teaches us that one day He shall return, and one day He shall establish a glorious kingdom on the earth. We read in Revelation 11:15: "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." So our Lord Jesus Christ one day shall return and establish His eternal kingdom. 

Now, the kingdom of God today is in the hearts of people. We don't see God's kingdom on this earth as it shall be when He returns, when the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and when there shall be peace and when men shall beat their swords into plowshares.

But how can we be a part of hastening the kingdom? Thy kingdom come. 2 Peter 3:14 tells us: "Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." We hasten the day of God by living godly lives. "And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation." The fact that God is waiting is an evidence of His grace. 

You see, if God judged the world right now, a lot of people would be condemned forever, and yet God patiently is waiting. The patience of God means salvation. The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

So how do you and I hasten the coming of the kingdom of God? Number one, by living godly lives. Number two, sharing the message of salvation with others. The Lord Jesus is calling out a people for His name, and when He has completed calling out these people for His name, then He shall return. And so we can hasten God's kingdom. 

The third responsibility we have: "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Prayer has to do with the will of God. I have often said in our Bible studies over Back to the Bible broadcast that the purpose of prayer is not to get man's will done in heaven; it is to get God's will done on earth. I think it was Phillips Brooks who said that over a hundred years ago.

1 John 5:14-15 make this very clear: "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." Prayer is not telling God what He ought to do; prayer is finding out what God wants to do and praying in His will. 

Secondly, we know God's will when we know God's character. The better a child knows his father, the better he's able to know what his father wants to give. Jude 20 tells us we should pray in the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:26 tells us the Holy Spirit of God intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Now, we must obey God's will. "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." How is it done in heaven by the angels? Gladly. It's done swiftly; it's done obediently. 

Our Lord Jesus said in John 5:30, "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." That's a good example for us to follow—to do the will of God, to seek the will of God, to seek to please God in all things. Now, here are three responsibilities that we have. Prayer helps us to fulfill these responsibilities. 

Prayer involves relationship and responsibility before we come with requests. Now, there are three basic requests given to us in the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6:11: "Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 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."

Our first request is for our daily needs: daily bread. You see, God is concerned about the material things of life. So far in the Lord's Prayer, we've not touched anything of a material nature: relationship—"Our Father which art in heaven"; responsibility—glorifying His name, hastening the coming of His kingdom, the doing of His will on earth. Now we are talking about the nitty-gritty everyday needs of life. 

Now, these were Jewish men who were learning this prayer; immediately they would think of Israel in the wilderness. And early every morning, the dew would fall in the camp of Israel, and then the manna would fall on the dew. That manna was a sweet little wafer that sustained them physically throughout their wilderness march.

I hope that you never get to the place in your life where your food is anything less than a miracle. I know we go to the store and we buy it; God gives us the strength to earn wealth so we can purchase our daily bread. But when you stop to think of all the miracles that have to take place between the grain of wheat planted in the soil and the loaf of bread that you pick up in the store, it certainly is an awesome thing.

Our God is still supplying our every need. Philippians 4:19 makes that very clear: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." 

The second request is for forgiveness. We go from "give us" to "forgive us." "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Sin is pictured in many different ways in the Bible. It's pictured as dirt—"wash me and I shall be whiter than snow." It's pictured as disease—leprosy, for example, is used as an illustration of sin. Sin is pictured as darkness. Sin is also pictured as a dungeon where prisoners are confined. Sin is also pictured as death. 

But here our Lord selects debt as a picture of sin: "and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Sin is a debt. All of us have an obligation to God. God has met our every need. God is holy. God lays down His law. God has every right to give His law, and you and I must confess that we are bankrupt. We are spiritually bankrupt. 

The tragedy is there are so many people who don't realize how spiritually bankrupt they are. They think they are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, when all the while they are poor and miserable and blind and wretched and naked. The Lord looks upon sinners and says, "You are broke. You are bankrupt." But you know, even after you're saved, you realize how much you need Him and how often we need to ask Him for forgiveness. I believe that we need to come before God day by day and say, "Forgive us. Forgive us. Forgive us our debts." 

We have the right to pray about daily bread, we have the right to pray about forgiveness, and finally, guidance. "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" or "deliver us from the evil one." Now, God doesn't lead anybody into temptation in the sense of forcing them to be confronted by sin. I

n James 1, we're told very clearly that God cannot be tempted and God doesn't tempt people. What does this request mean? Sometimes you and I get just a little bit proud, a little bit overconfident. And I need to pray and you need to pray, "Now, Father, guide me today. Don't let me get into a situation where I am tempting myself or I'm tempting You." 

"Lead us not into temptation" simply means keep me alert, keep me aware of the fact that the wicked one is around and he wants to trip me up. You and I must be very careful when we are feeling strong, when we're feeling confident, to pray, "Now, Father, help me. I'm liable to walk right into temptation." Satan knows when you and I are overconfident. There is so much evil, and we need to pray day by day, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" or "from the evil one." 

And what is the result of all of this? "Thine is the kingdom." God is the Lord; He's the King. He rules over all. "Thine is the power." And as a result, "Thine is the glory for ever." I like that word "forever." When you and I are praying at the throne of grace, we're a part of eternity. When you and I are coming to God in prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus, we're a part of that which is eternal. 

Relationship involves responsibility, and responsibility gives us the privilege of requests. God will meet our daily needs, God will forgive us, and God will guide us and protect us as we obey Him.