Lord’s Prayer

Definitive Guide to the Lord’s Prayer

A Definitive Guide to the Lord’s Prayer explores the prayer Jesus gave his followers. It is an example as to how to pray to the Father. We will look at each section and dig deeper into its meaning, and the implications that is has for us today.

The Simplicity of the Lord’s Prayer

The prayer Jesus taught as an example for us to pray was very simple, to the point, and not repetitious or with many words.

Do we think that by pleading, begging, and crying that God will hear us better or be more apt to act on our pleading? Will He be more attentive to us, over just talking to Him and speaking the words?

Persistence

The elderly woman who persistently went to the king probably didn’t have much time to speak, but it was her daily persistence, coming back day after day, that encouraged action. In the same way, we must keep showing up at God’s throne. Although, I doubt grappling and throwing all your emotions into it makes it anymore heard than a calm request brought before the Father day after day.

A Conversation

The prayer Jesus taught is good, but it isn’t just a ritual to be repeated with no thought. Prayer in general should be more like a conversation with God about the Scriptures, about your life, and what you’re doing. If we truly have a relationship with Him, and if we have truly submitted our lives to His Messiah, we should be in communion with both of them all day, not just when a need arises.

We don’t need a special prayer meeting or place to pray. Jesus prayed in a garden, in a park, when he invested special time to talk with his Father. Of course, it is good to have a quiet time like this when you get up or before you go to bed, as we see often was Jesus’ example, but even this shouldn’t be the only time we talk to them, and certainly not only Sunday morning at church.

“The Lord’s Prayer.”

Let’s go through each portion of what is best known as, “The Lord’s Prayer.” Each phrase is simple but has deep meaning for the Christian.

What Not to Do

“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

 

And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So, do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”

Pray, then, in this way:

‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil (the evil one). [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]

(Matthew 6:5-13)

Praise the Father

Our Father in heaven hallowed (highly praised) be your name, your Kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven….

We must acknowledge the Father as the Supreme Being. He is worthy of our praise and we must acknowledge Him as God. Then Jesus continues on about God’s coming Kingdom. So many people say this prayer every day or even every week. These first lines encompass everything Jesus taught and promoted, his mission in life.

His purpose was to prepare people for this coming Kingdom that God would inaugurate at just the right time. This government, God’s rule, will be over the entire Earth.

At this present time, Satan is ruling, and the kings and presidents, and dictators have control over the Earth. One day that will change.

Bring on God’s Kingdom

Jesus spent his ministry pointing people to the one true God whose government will one day cover the entire Earth. The first part of that Kingdom reign will last 1000 years and Jesus will be king and sit on his father David’s throne in Jerusalem. (Acts 2:30) He will govern rightly and his followers will rule and governing the entire Earth with him. (Revelation 5:10)

We should be yearning for and praying that this Kingdom would come. As a side point, 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that Jesus, in the end, after he has destroyed all evil and even death, will hand this Kingdom over to his Father. God will then be overall. Jesus is given authority and then he gives it back.

It is clear when Jesus taught about the Kingdom and even in this prayer, that this Kingdom he is talking about will be on the Earth. Unfortunately, many people pray this prayer, yet they think they look forward to going to heaven. It is clear through Jesus’s teaching and ministry and even here in the lord’s Prayer, that the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of heaven, will be on this Earth, not in heaven or anywhere else. This is the Kingdom we should be seeking and proclaiming.

What is it? Heaven or Earth

It seems quite ludicrous to pray “your Kingdom Come on this Earth,” but then to think you are going up into heaven. Why would you go there if Jesus won’t be there? It doesn’t make sense, and we all know that this teaching came from Greek mythology, Plato, and others that were not Christians or followers of Jesus and his teachings.

Also, it employs that the Father’s will be done on the Earth as it is in heaven. We should desire this too! His will is perfect up in heaven, and we are praying that His will would also be here on the Earth over all of humanity. We know that this will only happen when Jesus returns and this Kingdom is inaugurated. Christians were not given this job to do on their own BEFORE the rightful King comes.

Future Kingdom

As future Kingdom citizens, we should be following God’s will now. We should be practicing living like Kingdom citizens. If we look around the world, we see that it is obvious that God’s will, the Father’s will, is not being done.

In fact, it is Satan’s will and his agenda, famines riots, killings, sexual sin, hatred, and lack of love. Jesus said those things will be for a time, but they are not God’s will.

Rulership is Coming (Not here yet!)

Unfortunately, many Christians think that they have been given the job to make God’s will be done on Earth. The Father’s will won’t be done on this Earth until his Son returns and sets up His planned Kingdom. Only then will His rule be over all the Earth.

We were not given the job to fix all of the governments and make all of the people be kind and love each other. In fact, we were told to live that way ourselves. But. the job Christians were given was the same as Jesus’s.

He received his marching orders from his Father and told us that his purpose was to proclaim the good news of the coming Kingdom of God (Luke 4:44??). Jesus was to proclaim it, teach it, and preach it, and also show people what it would be like. (He did this by healing the sick, making the lame walk, the blind to see, and the best part, raising the dead.) His mission was to tell people about this coming Kingdom and to prepare them to be a Kingdom citizen.

Then he gave those same marching orders to the church. We were told to go preach and teach this same coming Kingdom. But, we were not told to go try to make it happen. Too many professing Christians are not following the orders Jesus gave them, unfortunately they have their own agenda.

Give us this day our daily bread

When we pray in this way and asking the Father to provide for us and meet our daily needs, we are showing that we trust him and are dependent on him.

In Matthew 6:33 it says to seek God’s Kingdom first and His righteousness and then when you do those things, He will meet your physical daily needs that you have. You will have food, clothes, and you will have a place that covers your head, some sort of house.

We are not promised mansions and rich delicacies at this time. We are waiting for the banquet that Jesus will spread out for his people. All Believers will sit down with Abraham and Moses and have the best meat and wine. We can look forward to a great feast at that time.

Obviously, everybody in the world today does not eat like that and does not have the comforts that most Western countries have. Christians were not told to go feed all of those people and build houses for them, although we can help do that for our brethren because we are told the care for them.

Christians are told to go preach the hope and the good news of a day coming where people will not hunger, they will no longer have pain, sorrow, or death. It is something that they can look forward to. We cannot offer people the perfect happy life, not even a decent life like most of us have, but we can offer them the hope of resurrection and immortality and living forever with Jesus and eventually with the Father. We need to be obedient and get busy sharing this hope!

Don’t Chase Your Needs

In the same context, Jesus tells us not to be chasing after those things and not to worry about our needs IF we are doing what he told us to do. We must be responsible, of course, and work and prepare as the ants do and as we can, but we need to trust that the Father will meet those needs no matter what, otherwise Jesus is a liar.

If you have gotten yourself in trouble because you have bought and all kinds of things that are not needs, boats, extra homes, excessive jewelry, and household items, things that you don’t actually need, you may have to sell some of those if you don’t have money for food. You also might want to sell some of those things to help with this Kingdom effort that Jesus gave us to do.

How to Get Your Needs Met

Mathew 6:31-33 sums up how to get your needs met.

Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin and offend us

Forgiveness is important. Forgiveness brings peace and healing. When we look at our own lives and realize how the Father has forgiven us and the sacrifice that Jesus offered when he gave up his own life so that we could be forgiven, we must be humble and grateful for that and we should forgive other who have hurt us or offended us, knowingly or unknowingly.

When we talk about forgiveness that does not mean that it automatically restores the relationship or that the person has no consequences for their offense. But it does mean that you let go of holding that against them and, or, seeking revenge. That is health and peace to your body!

Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil, or the Evil One

We must recognize that there are sin and evil and we should not be following in those ways or sitting in the presence of that.

The Bible tells us that there is no temptation that has never been experienced before and that God will provide a way out for you. (1 Corinthians 10:13) But you must look for it! It might be a door; it might be the off button. If you have legs you can get up and flee whatever place you are at where there are temptation and sin. But we must choose to flee. We must choose to use the way out that He has provided.

The Lord’s Prayer Reiterated

The last part of the Lord’s Prayer, “thine is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever,” doesn’t seem to have been in the earliest manuscripts. I don’t think it really matters because those words are true. We see this truth throughout the rest of Scripture. It is not some new teaching that is questionable.

It is just reiterating the way you started the prayer. You acknowledge the Father as the supreme being, the only true God. You affirm your belief and hope in His Son returning and establishing His Kingdom rule, His righteous government, on this Earth. And finally, you confess that this Kingdom hope is the destiny of mankind.

On the other hand, we know that in other parts of scripture though, the unbelieving, the wicked, the sorcerers, the haters, the murderers, the sexually immoral, will not be in this Kingdom. They will not be part of the first resurrection or in the millennial Kingdom. If they have died, they will all be resurrected afterward and judged according to their deeds. (Revelation 20:5, 12)

Jesus’ Prayer Sums up His Mission & His Teachings

The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) is recited in most churches and accepted by most denominations as a prayer that Jesus taught his followers.  Most Christians know it by heart. But do we really hear the words of Jesus? Do we see the common thread of our Messiah as he taught and preached interwoven into this prayer? Do most Christians even know Christ’s mission? (Luke 4:43)

Next time you say the Lord’s prayer, really think about what you are praying! 

The Lord’s Prayer Put to Music