“Our Father” See references at Matthew 5:16. God’s children are to have God centered prayers not self centered ones. And we should approach Him as our loving dear caring Heavenly Father who is ready to listen to us and help us as we can clearly read in Matthew 7:9-11. When we pray we are to think clearly about the One to whom we are speaking. The words “in heaven” indicate majesty and greatness and transcendence. The almighty dear caring Heavenly Father is the great sovereign creator of the universe, the all powerful reigning God who can hear every prayer and do all things according to His precious divine will and great purpose.
“Hallowed be your name” name means God’s devine nature and character, who and what He is. The desire that God be honored on earth should be the very first concern of every disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. This must come before personal requests, not merely in prayer, but in life as a whole. Their prayers, desires, deeds and words should all be for God’s glory, just as Jesus Christ’s were as we can read in (Matthew 5:16; John 8:29; 17:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:31). Is it not probable that many of our prayers remain unanswered because in our asking we do not put God’s honor first in our thoughts and desires?
“Hallowed” means to be considered holy. Our almighty dear Heavenly Father is the absolutely holy one, and those who pray to Him should keep this in mind. We should always want God’s name to be honored and glorified in our own lives, and among the people with whom we associate. Also, perhaps, this is a prayer that God Himself will hallow His name, that He would bring about conditions among men that they would recognize the holy nature of the one and true divine God, that He would cause people to respect and honor Him. Compare Ezekiel 36:23. And see references on God’s holiness at Leviticus 20:7; Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 15:4.
“Your kingdom come” this concern also has to do with God, not with personal needs. But if God’s kingdom (Matthew 4:17) has already come, and Jesus Christ’s disciples are in it, why should they pray that it might come? It has come now only in a hidden, spiritual sense in the hearts of His people. This prayer may express a desire for the spread of His kingdom in the world, that more and more people would submit in their hearts to God’s rule. Or, more likely, it may be a prayer for God’s kingdom to come openly and be manifest in all the earth (as we can read in Matthew 16:27-28; 25:31; Luke 21:31; 22:18, 29, 30; Acts 1:6 and Revelation 11:15; 20:4-6). In this case it would be like praying for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 22:20).
“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Is it not true that the will of God in heaven is done perfectly, immediately, heartily, joyously, faithfully, constantly? That is how we should want things in the whole earth, including in ourselves as individuals, in our families, and our churches. This prayer will have its complete fulfillment only when the prayer before it is fulfilled. Now everywhere in the earth the divine will of God is either unknown or resisted, disobeyed and despised. As individuals who pray this prayer we should make it the great concern of our life to know and do the will of God ourselves as we can read in Colossians 1:9; 4:12; Hebrews 13:20-21; 1 John 2:17; 5:14 and Revelation 2:26.
“Our daily bread” after first praying for the great matters that have to do with God, disciples may turn to requests for their own needs. Bread here signifies the necessities of life. Observe carefully that Jesus Christ did not tell us to pray for riches, or even for many days’ needs to be given in advance. Disciples are to recognize that their day by day life on earth is totally dependent on God, and look to Him in faith to meet their needs as we can read in the (Matthew 6:25-33)
This does not mean that disciples are to stop working and beg God for their food. See 2 Thessalonians 3:10 and 1 Timothy 5:8. They are to work, but at the same time to recognize it is God’s grace and not their mere working which keeps them supplied. Should the rich, and those who always have large supplies of everything they need, pray this prayer? Certainly. They too need to recognize that they are dependent on God for everything, and that what they have today can be gone tomorrow. As we can read in Proverbs 23:5.
“Forgive us our debts” compare this with Luke 11:4, where the wording is “forgive us our sins”. Why has Jesus Christ given us the same prayer in different words? Perhaps He meant the word “sins” to indicate things we have done, actual trespasses, sins of commission, and the word “debts” to signify what we have failed to do, sins of omission. However that may be, by comparing Matthew with Luke here we can see that debts toward God too are sins. We owe God perfect love and perfect obedience, and come short in our payments. The prayer Jesus Christ taught us is not complete without confession of sin. Keep in mind that this is a perfect example of the kind of prayer that all of His disciples should make, not only then, but throughout this whole age of grace. From this we judge that Jesus Christ did not think that any of His disciples would reach a state of sinless perfection on this earth, that any of them would ever be completely beyond the daily need for forgiveness. It is plain that if day by day we need to ask for forgiveness, then day by day, either in what we do or in what we fail to do, or in what we think or desire, we are guilty of sinning and need forgiveness. Jesus would not tell us to ask for something we do not need, that did not relate to us.
On our proneness to sin and need of forgiveness see Matthew 7:11; Romans 7:18, 21; Galatians 5:16-17; James 3:2; 1 John 1:8; 1 Kings 8:46. On forgiveness see references on Matthew 6:14,15; 9:5-7; 12:31; 18:23-35. Observe that we have a right to pray for forgiveness only if we forgive those who have offended us. If we do not forgive them, than we shouldn’t except nor think that God should forgive us.
“Lead us not into temptation”– God does not tempt men to sin. Temptation comes from Satan and from one’s own heart (as we can read in Matthew 4:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 3:5; and James 1:13-14). We must understand that we are dependent on God alone to keep us safe in time of temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
See David’s prayer in Psalms 141:4, Surely a prayer God delights to answer. God does try men (see references at Genesis 22:1 and Psalms 66:10-12), but that is a different matter. When we pray this prayer we are asking God to act according to His will, and so we are not asking Him to keep us from all trials. We are asking that He lead us not into temptation, that He would not lead us, who are so sinful and weak, in such a way that we fall into the hands of Satan the tempter.
One more fact we should very well understand. It is quite possible to pray like this and at the same time have a secret desire to be overcome by temptation and to sin. This, of course, is insincere and hypocritical praying, and in such a case we should not think that God is obliged to answer us and keep us from falling. But when we pray this prayer in the right spirit, we are setting ourselves against all temptation and sin, and against the desire to be tempted. And this we must do to be successful aligned in our spiritual life.
“Evil” this could also be translated “the evil one”, meaning satan. It refers to any kind of evil, from any source. The prayer to “deliver us” is the reverse of the previous request about temptation. This is something God will surely do for the trusting, prayerful disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ would not teach us to pray for something it was not God’s divine will to do. In this prayer Jesus Christ desires us to acknowledge that God alone can deliver us from evil within or without or from satan, that we cannot be delivered by our own strength and wisdom. In this whole prayer we see the relationship which must exist between God and a disciple of Jesus Christ. God is the almighty One, the loving Heavenly Father who supplies everything needed; the disciple is weak and needy and must look to God for everything. God is to be honored, His divine will be done. All the disciple can do is ask “give”, “forgive”, “deliver”. Jesus Christ is making abundantly clear our on our dependence on a loving God.
“Yours is the kingdom, Amen” a very fitting conclusion to this prayer, or any prayer. See other references on prayer at Matthew 7:7-12; Mark 11:24; Luke 11:1-13; 18:1-8; Romans 8:26-27; Ephesians 1:17; Philippines 4:6-7; Colossians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:18; Hebrews 11:6; James 1:5-8; 5:16-18; 1 John 5:14-15 and Genesis 18:32.
Much LoVe, Joy, Peace and Blessings through Jesus Christ, our wonderful, almighty dear caring Lord, Saviour and Redeemer, in who we faithfully abide, trust, believe and abundantly do receive throughout His marvelous righteous Word and truth fulfilling Holy Spirit.
