What is the Lord’s Prayer?
I had three very different events, one right after the other. A funeral, a wedding, and a baptism. (This sounds like the beginning of a bad joke).
Each of these events, although different, had some similarities, like pointing the people in attendance to God. Whether it be with a gospel presentation, a likening of the wedding covenant to our covenant with God, or the entire point of being baptized, God is ever present in the words at the events.
Another similarity was the use of the Lord’s Prayer.
Nothing is more humbling than an entire room of people reciting a bible passage and being left to mumble an incoherent mess of syllables in an attempt to not seem like a lazy christian. As everyone around me, at all three events, launched into the KJV of the Lord’s Prayer like they say it daily, I got to thinking: why is this a universally memorized scripture (and why haven’t I memorized this yet???)
Matthew 6 is a solid chapter that I am slowly but surely working on memorizing in its entirety. It covers a lot of things from giving, to prayer, to fasting. Jesus even covers anxiety in this chapter!
Jesus also covers prayer in two ways: he talks about how we should do it with our actions, and an actual example to follow. How convenient! Jesus is literally like “Y’all aren’t great at talking to my dad, so here’s a dummy proof way.”
Let’s look at it really quick.
“Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:9-13 CSB)
Let’s talk about each of these parts of the prayer.
Addressing God
“Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy.” (Matthew 6:9 CSB)
The term Father is intimate. We’re talking to God in a way that is much more special than that one person at work that repeats everything we say, or that family member that gets offended by almost everything we talk about. This is a safe place with someone who loves us unconditionally, even when we mess up. Someone who created a way for us to have a relationship with Him even though we deserve separation from Him. This can give us the confidence, when we pray, to not hold back for any reason.
He already knows, and He wants us to admit these things that we usually hide, He wants us to talk about those things that we keep hidden or are too afraid to talk about. There’s nothing we can say that will shock Him, and there is NOTHING we can say that will make Him stop loving us. He has already seen every despicable part of our hearts and chosen us anyway.
He also wants to hear about our day, and the things that bother us. The good things that happened, and our recognition of the blessings He’s given us. The bad things, and our hopes and prayers that things will change. He isn’t just nodding and pretending to listen, He is listening intently.
But, with all of these facts, holy is He, and He deserves recognition. We cannot forget this. We still have to recognize His sovereignty, and go to Him with reverence. He is the creator of the universe, of every person and thing that has ever and will ever come to be.
How do we remember both parts? What does that balance look like?
Aligning to God’s Will
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10 CSB)
We have free will, as human beings. God created us with the ability to choose for ourselves. Now, we as humans can’t come close to molding our own lives into anything as perfect as God can. God can see the beginning and the end, He knows what’s best not just for you and me, but everyone He has created. This plan that He has for our lives, so long as we submit to it, will be much more beautiful than anything we can demand. But, in the moment, when we have our mind set on the things we think will really bring us happiness, it’s hard to let go of those things to trust in God’s plan.
While we pray, it’s easy to jump into “God I want this, I want that,” and we can (and will) get to that and will in the next verse, but we have to make sure that our heart is ready to align to HIS WILL, not our own. It isn’t always easy to know what God wants for us, so it’s important to pray daily for the wisdom to discern His will for us, and pray for it to come into fruition despite our ineptitude as humans.
Seeking Our Needs and Forgiveness
“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matthew 6:11-12 CSB)
This one is two fold, asking for what we need- our requests in life, and for forgiveness as we repent of our sins.
This is where we ask God for those things we mentioned earlier. The “I want this, I want that” prayers. Financial help, healing, praying for the people we love, and the situations we’re in. This is where we insert that “daily bread” also known as the daily needs we petition God with.
We can bring all things to Him, He wants us to! So long as it’s after recognizing that His will is more important than anything we want for ourselves, which is probably why Jesus tells us to align our will with God’s before we start asking for the things we need.
Now for the second fold of it, We also have to ask for forgiveness, because we don’t deserve it. We deserve death and separation from God, but He allows us to avoid that by Jesus’ sacrifice. This is where we confess our sins, repenting of them. This is done humbly, with a heart genuinely seeking forgiveness and pursuing repentance.
We are also saying, if we quote this verse, that we have forgiven those who have acted against us or hurt our feelings. We can’t pray this if we’re holding a grudge against others, but we can ask Him to help us forgive even when it seems too difficult to try.
Help Fighting Temptation & Ask for Deliverance
“And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13 CSB)
“If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7 CSB)
Temptation is something we deal with in life. In Genesis 4, we follow the birth of Cain and Esau, and the quick demise of their relationship. God warns Esau against the sin waiting at the door, in verse 7, and sin is waiting for us too. We must be steadfast in our firmness against sin, and that starts by praying for God’s help through it. There’s nothing we can do on our own, with our sinful flesh.
God will deliver us from the evil one, if we ask. We have to seek His guidance, but we are promised that He will protect us, so long as we follow Him.
Prayer doesn’t have to be hard. “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:9-13 CSB)
It’s not that it’s easy, but instead, it’s that it gets easier as time goes on. As we learn to trust and grow in Christ, and lean wholly on God, our Creator. Start with praying this prayer, memorize it! Don’t wait until you’re in a room where everyone else has it memorized, to realize how valuable it is.