prayer2 - the Lord's Prayer

 Pray then like this:

    "Our Father 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 lead us not into temptation,
   but deliver us from evil.

[Matt 6:9-13]

 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."
 And he said to them, "When you pray, say:

    "Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.  Give us each day our daily bread,  and forgive us our sins,
   for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation."

I want to talk to you today about using the beautiful prayer known as the Lord's prayer as a prayer guide. It is nice and meaningful to pray that prayer through, we often do it in Church services and it's often the first prayer taught to new believers. however  Jesus gave us not only a prayer to pray but a guide for our prayers. We are going to go through this prayer bit by bit and i will share what I have learned about using this prayer as a guide.

Firstly though, notice what the bible says in Luke 11:1
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."

I think we can all benefit from learning more about prayer, it's such a vital part of our Christian life and yet it is one that so many believers including me struggle with at times.  We looked at prayer in a previous message but there is so  much more to say about it.

now let's look at the Lord's prayer phrase by phrase:
 1.
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
[Matt 6:9b]
God is our heavenly father. The bible says:
 God destined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ because of his love. This was according to his goodwill and plan
[Ephesians 1:5 CEB]
and this:
 Like a parent feels compassion for their children-     that’s how the LORD feels compassion for those who honor him.
[Psalm 103:13 CEB]

notice the verse in Ephesians says:
God destined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ....
we are not natural born children of God, we are not god as Jesus is, but we are adopted into the family of god. An adopted child doesn't have the same birth parents   as a child of the family would have, but an adopted child is  legally part of the family. 

When we became Christians we became part of the family of god. That's why the Lord's prayer starts with "Our father" not "My father". It reminds us that we are united with every Christian everywhere in the world and all those who have gone to Heaven before us, in one family with God as the head and Jesus as our holy big brother. 

Hallowed is an old fashioned word meaning "holy".  Other translations put it in different ways such as:
      May your holy name be honored;
[GNT]
   Reveal who you are.
[MSG]
      may your name be kept holy.
[NLT]
uphold the holiness of your name.
[CEB]
may your name be honoured;
[Phillips]

God's name is holy, and that will always be true. The fact is, though, that people judge god by what they see in us. That's a very sobering thought. If they see us lying or using profanity  they will think less of god and so in that way his name is not hallowed. his name refers to his character. We want to live in such a way that people  won't have a lower opinion of god because of us.

Suggested prayer points:
* thank the Lord that Jesus died for you
* thank God that you are now a part of god's family, if you are a Christian.
* Pray that the way you live will bring glory to God and not bring dishonour to his holy name.

2.  Your kingdom come, [Matt 6:10a]

Jesus is the King and one day he will return to set up his kingdom here on earth but for now he is in heaven, ruling over the heavens and ruling over our lives. One of the reasons he came to earth was to speak about the kingdom of heaven:
 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Matthew 4:17

  We are subjects of the kingdom of heaven if we have surrendered our lives to Christ and accepted him as our Lord and Saviour.   He rules over us from heaven through his holy Spirit who lives in each of us.

When we pray "your kingdom come"  we are praying for the day when King Jesus will return in all his glory and will set up his kingdom on earth for 1000 years. after that time, when Jesus has defeated Satan once and for all, ,there will be a new heaven and a new earth  where god and Jesus will reign from the New Jerusalem.

We are also praying for God's help to live here and now as subjects of the kingdom should live, that we might follow the King's rules for our life and do the work god has given us to do. for example, Jesus tells us this:
 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
 this is the most important work that we as Christians can do: sharing god's truths with the people he brings into our lives.

Suggested prayer points:

* Pray for your unsaved family and friends to come to know Jesus.
* ask god if there is some way you can help your unsaved friends and family to come to know Jesus.
* Pray for missionaries and evangelists, who are busy about the work Jesus gave us to do.
3.  your will be done,    on earth as it is in heaven. [Matthew 6:10b]

god has a  perfect plan for the universe and for our lives, a plan he knew of before the world was formed. He wants  us to walk in that will. god is our loving heavenly father so his will is always best for us even though it may not always seem to be so.

 God reveals this will to us in various ways such as:
* when we study the bible
* through the advice of Christian friends we trust, especially those who are mature and can advise us well.
* when we examine our circumstances and see if god is opening a door for us to go through or if the door we think we want to go through is shut.
* through the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, who speaks to our hearts and tells us what god wants us to do.  
Can you think of other ways god speaks to us?
When God tells us what he wants us to do he also gives us the grace and strength to do it. Sometimes, though, he will  tell us to do something that
*. we really don't want to do. the choice then is between doing our will and doing god's will. Sometimes it can be really hard to say no to what we want, and we can battle with ourselves about whether we should do what we want or what we know is right.
We also pray for god's will to be  done not only in our lives  but on earth. We can pray for situations like war, famine, natural disasters and corrupt political leaders, because in every situation god has a perfect will and we know that his way is far better than ours. The trouble is that most of the people in the world are not children of god, most of them haven't asked Jesus to be their Lord and Saviour and even those of us who are Christians often choose to do what we know is wrong. There is also the enemy, satan, who temporarily rules over this world. he wants to do as much damage as possible, keep as many people as possible from getting saved and tries to work against God's perfect plan for this world. 

We can still pray "your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven"  because God can take the worst possible situations and bring some good out of them.  

In Heaven god's will is always perfectly carried out, and the time will come when this will be true of the earth as well.

 Suggested prayer points:
All we have to do is listen to the news to find plenty of bad situations we can pray about.
* pray that God will bring something good out of the bad situations that are happening.
* pray that you will know what God's will is for your life.
* Pray for the strength to choose god's will over your own in situations where you find it hard to obey.


4.  Give us this day our daily bread, Matthew 6:11A]

In this petition we are asking god for  the things that we need. He already knows what our needs are but he wants us to talk to him about them. Notice that it doesn't say "give us our daily cake"  but "our daily bread."  God will give us the things he knows we need to have, not necessarily the things we want to have. God will say no if what we are asking for is not good for us. He may sometimes choose to give us what we want to have but not always.  He may also give us the answer "wait", because he knows that what we ask for is not best for us at this time and also he wants to teach us to pray without giving up, even if we have to wait years for what we have prayed about. Abraham prayed for a child for years and years and when he was 100 God gave Isaac to Abraham and his wife, when they were far past the age of childbearing.

god wants us to talk to him about every situation of our lives,  bring to  him every need no matter how trivial, and then trust him with the outcome.  He is our heavenly father and he desires to have a relationship with us, isn't that a great thought?

we can also use this time to pray about the needs that our loved ones have, [our friends and family  members], for our Church groups and for any needs we  are aware of in the community or even our country.
Suggested Prayer Points:
* talk to God about the things  you need.
* talk to god about the things your loved ones need
* Talk to god about any needs you know about in your town or even your country.
* If God says no, pray for the strength and wisdom to accept it.
* If god says "Wait" then pray for the patience you will need  as you wait.
* if God has answered your prayers then thank him.

5. and forgive us our debts,    as we also have forgiven our debtors. [v12a]

and forgive us our sins,   for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. [Luke 11:4]

we are asking God to forgive our sins.  We all sin every day, sometimes because we choose to and sometimes just because it is part of our nature. Whatever the cause of our sin, we need to confess it to god, taking full responsibility for our actions  and asking his forgiveness, ... but there is a proviso: we have to be willing to forgive those who have sinned against us. We have to forgive those who have  hurt us, those who lied to us, those who spoke unkind things about us behind our backs, and anything else that anyone might have done to us. The bible says:
     “If you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you don't forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your
sins.
[Matthew 6:14-15]

Sometimes it can be hard to forgive. maybe there is someone who hurt you badly in the past and you can't even imagine forgiving that person. That's when you need to ask god to help you forgive them. maybe you also need to see your pastor or find a Christian counsellor in your area. I have a person in my life I'm finding it hard to forgive but I'm trusting the Lord and I'm talking to him about the issues and I'm  sure he will help me to really forgive them and put it behind me.

Remember that those whom we have hurt and treated harshly will have to forgive us too. It can be hard to forgive but God blesses us when we sincerely make an effort to do it and he will help us.

suggested prayer points:
pray for the willingness to forgive those who have hurt us.
Pray for the ability to forgive fully.
Thank god that he has forgiven all your sins.

6. And lead us not into temptation, v12a]
Every human being experiences temptation, even Jesus went through seasons of temptation but he never sinned.

god isn't the one who leads us into temptation. We are tempted either by our own desires, and/or by the enemy. God can and will help us when we are tempted, however. The bible says:
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation
he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
 1 Corinthians 10:13
when we experience temptation we can ask God for help and he will always show us a way to go that we will not fall  into the temptation. Sometimes though, we don't want to avoid the temptation and there is a war in our hearts between what we know we should do and what we may want to do even if we know it's not good for us. we need to choose to do god's will even though it's hard, because what God tells us to do is really for our best even if we can't see it at the time. We need to cry out to God for help and for strength to do what we know he wants us to do.

Suggested prayer points:
pray for guidance about avoiding situations where we know we will be tempted.
pray for the strength we need to say no to sin even though our flesh is fighting against us.

7.    but deliver us from evil. [v13b]

another translation says it like this:

but deliver us from the evil one.     [v13b]

That's what this is all about. We know the evil one has plans and schemes against us. We want to avoid those schemes as much as possible. To do this we need god's help. As a blind person, there are times when I need to rely on someone to help me find my way, if I am in a place  I don't know or if  I'm walking in a place that is familiar to me but there are  obstacles in the way. then I need to trust the person who is helping me, and go where they lead.

If we want to avoid the pitfalls and obstacles the enemy puts in our path we need to trust god and follow where he leads us, even if we don't understand  or if we don't know the path he is leading us on . 

Suggested prayer points:
pray that God will help us to be aware of the enemy's schemes against us.
Pray that God will keep  us out of the traps the enemy sets for us.

Pray for your loved ones that the enemy's schemes in their lives will not stand.

To finish off this prayer we have to go to the KJV because this part is not always included in all the versions of the word:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 
 [Matt 6:13c KJV]
the word "thine"  is an old-fashioned way of saying "Yours".
In this final part of the Lord's prayer, known as the doxology,  we are acknowledging god as king, as the all-powerful one and as the only one worthy to receive glory.

this doxology can be compared to the praises Solomon gave to God when the first temple was consecrated:
11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.
Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. 12 Both riches and honour come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power
and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

Many believe that this part of the prayer was included at a later time and wasn't part of what Jesus taught his followers. It's a great way to finish praying though, to offer praise to god for who he is and to remember he is the all-powerful, glorious king of kings.
The word Amen comes from a Hebrew root word meaning truly or surely. The word for faith, emunah, comes from this same word. When we say amen we are expressing our agreement with what has been prayed.

I hope you have found our study of the Lord's prayer helpful. May the Holy spirit lead and direct you as you pray this prayer and use it as a prayer guide.

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you that you have given us a prayer to pray and also to use as a guide for our praying. help us to learn to pray as you have taught. Help us to be honest and sincere, talking to you freely about every aspect of our lives. Thank you lord god that you always hear us when we pray. Amen.