The Lord’s Prayer
“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen” (Matthew 6:9-13 – KJV).
Let’s examine each phrase of the Lord’s prayer closely to better understand its meaning:
Our father: we may be unworthy to address the Lord as “Father,” but whenever we do so in sincerity, He receives us with rejoicing (Luke 15:21–24) and acknowledges us as His sons.
In heaven: the consciousness that “God is in heaven, and thou upon earth” (Ecclesiastes 5:2) brings to the contrite heart the spirit of reverence and humility that is the first condition of salvation.
Hallowed be thy name: believers hallow God’s name by acknowledging His holiness of character and by permitting Him to reproduce His character in them.
Thy kingdom come: throughout the ages the promise that the kingdoms of this world would eventually become the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the hope of believers (Revelation 11:15).
Thy will be done: the request is for an end to the reign of sin and for the arrival of that moment when the will of God will be as universally accomplished upon this earth as it is throughout the other dominions of God’s creation.
Give us this day our daily bread: this is a petition for the temporal and spiritual needs of man. Everything that we have comes from God, and in our hearts there should ever be gratitude for His goodness.
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors: we dare not ask for forgiveness unless and until we have forgiven our fellow men (Matthew 5:24; 18:23–35).
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: this is a request to God to remove all temptation from us. But God’s promise is not that we shall be protected from temptation, but that we shall be protected from falling in sin (John 17:15). Too often we willfully place ourselves in the way of temptation (Proverbs 7:9). Truly to pray “lead us not into temptation” is to renounce the ways of our own choosing and to submit to the ways of God’s choosing.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever: the “kingdom,” “power,” and “glory” here ascribed to the Father certainly include the present kingdom of divine grace in the hearts of men, and also look forward primarily to the glorious kingdom to come with the return of Christ to this earth to rule in power and glory (verse10).
In the Lord’s Prayer, we have a model of what every believer’s prayer should be like. This prayer leads the believer into God’s throne in Jesus’ Name.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
