the Lord's Prayer unpacked
By way of context, in Matthew 6: 5-15 Jesus is teaching his disciples about personal prayer life, he tells them how to pray and what to pray:
How to pray
He says
- don't do it to show off and impress others
- make it a personal matter beween you and God
- keep it simple - you don't need to keep to some man made ritual, God knows what you want before you ask him... so just ask!
What to pray
Matthew 6: 9-13 (NKJV)
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Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
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Our father God is still in heaven ruling over everything that he has created, may all of his creation give him the praise he is due. |
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your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven,
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The Bible tells us that we become part of God's kingdom when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. So we pray that God's kingdom will continue to come, or advance in this world until everybody has had the chance to say 'Yes' to Jesus. And we pray that God's will will be done on earth just like it's done in heaven. |
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| Give us today our daily bread, |
As he promises, God will provide for our needs, today. (This implies we don't need to worry about tomorrow!) We are acknowledging God as our sustainer and provider and we should trust God for his provision. |
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And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors,
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There are many things that we have done and will do, many hurts caused for which we need God's forgiveness. We know that we have this forgiveness when we ask for it, through faith in Jesus. '
God expects us to forgive others just as he has forvgiven us. It is this forgivenss that marks us out as Christians. Unforgiveness is bad for relationships and it is bad for us as individuals. (See Matthew 6:14 and 18: 21-25). God will help us to forgive through the power of the Holy Spirit.
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And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
(For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.)Amen.
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God does not lead us in to temptation but in this world there is loads of it around. Jesus was tempted and so are we. God will help us deal with temptation if we ask him.
The last bit (in brackets) does not appear in all translations but it reminds us that this 'life of ours' is not about us...it's about God. It's his kingdom, his power and his glory and may we remember this for ever.
So be it.
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