After Jesus told the crowd that prayer is about having an intimate relationship with God and not about saying a lot of words to impress the people around you, He offered an example:
Our Father in heaven,This is undoubtedly the most famous prayer in Christendom. In my youth, everyone I knew, including me, who went to church only three or four times a year with the neighbors, knew "The Lord's Prayer."
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13)
Notice that this prayer opens with the address "Our Father." Jesus was addressing Jews here. They were not accustomed to thinking of God as their father. "Abraham is our father" (John 8:39). Paul wrote to the church at Rome, saying, "...you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.'" (Romans 8:15) Abba is the Aramaic for father. Aramaic was the vernacular of the society into which Jesus came to minister.
This is a new level of intimacy with God for the Jews, who were loath even to mention the name of God, for fear of offending Him. Jesus (and Paul after Him) was obviously encouraging His audience to throw away any pretense, and get real with God.
The prayer continues, "Hallowed be Your name." That is "May your name be honored, revered, sacred." Obviously, this business of getting intimate with God is not about bringing Him down to our level, but rather, as Paul said, we are adopted sons of God, and as such may speak to Him as our Father, albeit with deep respect and reverence, even as I was taught to address my earthly father. Our culture has lost that respect for authority, I fear. I am troubled when I hear preachers say that God is our "pal" or our "buddy." There is even a bumper sticker that says, "God is my co-pilot." If that is the case, you are sitting in the wrong seat.
"Your kingdom come...." In Matthew chapter 3, John the Baptist, referring to Jesus, tells the people to "repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Jesus embodies the kingdom of heaven, and He was already come. I believe this is a plea for the Jews to welcome their Messiah. In other words, He was telling them to acknowledge to the Father that the Messiah was indeed come, and they had accepted Him.
"Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." By way of demonstrating our reverence for our Creator, we promise to accede to His will in all things, just as those who already dwell with Him in heaven do.
These five short lines of prayer have accomplished several things. First, they have established Who is the Father. They have established who we are, His children. They have acknowledged that, in spite of our entering into an intimate relationship with the Creator of the universe, nevertheless we do so only with the deepest respect and reverence. They have established that we are willing to accept the Messiah, Whom He sent, and that we relinquish our own agendas in favor of His. Thus the prayer has so far set the stage for us to be able to take the concerns of our hearts to the Source of all blessings.
"Give us this day, our daily bread." Notice that this line does not ask for a year's supply of food, or a new car. This is a humble supplication for the Lord to supply our immediate need for sustenance. The Jews had not forgotten by this time in history that God had supplied them daily with manna from heaven to sustain them in the wilderness. So, Jesus tells them here that it is not unreasonable to ask God to provide for their daily need for sustenance.
"And forgive us our debts," that is, forgive us for failing to treat our fellow men with respect and dignity and generosity. "As we forgive our debtors." Jesus picks up this theme in verses 14 and 15, when He tells them, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
If we fast forward to Matthew chapter 7, we are reminded that we are not to judge others, if we do not want to be judged by the same measure. In the same spirit, we are to extend grace to others to the same extent that we would have grace extended to ourselves. Here, Jesus instructs us to ask forgiveness of the Father and extend forgiveness to our fellow man, with the caveat, that the Father will follow our lead in extending forgiveness.
In Matthew chapter 20 (vs 37-40), Jesus said to a lawyer, who was testing Him by asking what is the greatest commandment, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” As he was teaching his followers to pray, Jesus reminded them to acknowledge these two commandments before God.
"And do not lead us into temptation." This line is interesting, because God does not tempt us (James 1:13). I believe what Jesus was telling His followers here is to ask God to intercede and limit Satan's ability to tempt us. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth with a promise of God: "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians 10:13) Jesus here instructs us to invoke this promise in prayer to the Father.
"But deliver us from the evil one." God certainly has the power to deliver us from Satan. We need only ask. James 4:2: "You have not because you ask not."
"For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever." Jesus tells us to end our prayers with another acknowledgment of God's sovereignty, His power, and His glory. Prayer is for our benefit. God already knows what is in our hearts, but by speaking to Him in prayer, we cement it in our minds.
Paul taught the church at Ephesus "that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:22-24) These verses contain the formula for biblical change that Paul reiterates elsewhere.
When we pray, we are, in essence, renewing the spirit of our minds. If we put off (stop doing) the things that we did in our sin nature, renew our minds (pray for guidance and holiness), and put on (start doing) the things that are of the Spirit, we will be changed by the Spirit of God. This is a package deal. We are to repent (change or renew our minds; agree with God), confess that Jesus is Lord, believe that God raised Him from the dead, (Romans 10:9-10) and we become a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Then we are empowered to put off the old (sin controlled) man, be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and put on the new (Spirit filled) man, created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.
If I read this all correctly, it means that we MUST be continually in prayer, because it renews our minds. As I wrote in an earlier post, the battleground between good and evil is in our minds. Constantly renewing our minds through prayer will ensure that we are living in the Spirit. Just as the Word of God is "a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105), so speaking to the Lord in prayer will "[Restore] my soul" and "[lead] me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." (Psalm 23:3)
"Amen." So be it, soldier.
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