Please continue standing as we read what is most commonly known as “The Lord’s Prayer”
Matthew 6:9-13 (KJV)
“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.”
The Lord’s Prayer is amazing.
Some people repeat the Lord’s prayer every day.
Some churches believe in repeating the Lord’s prayer and other prayers over and over in order to have your sins removed.
And, you know, it seems as if there is anything that Christians can disagree over we will find a way to do so!
Some churches read prayers while other offer spontaneous prayers.
Some say Ah-men while other churches say AAA-men!
Some churches pray in the name of Jesus while others pray in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Some folks think we should kneel, some think we should stand
Some think we should fold our hands while other think we should raise them to heaven
Now, we don’t normally tend to read prayers, but we do sing them!
We bow our hearts we bend our knees
Oh Spirit come make us humble
We turn our eyes from evil things Oh LORD we cast down our idols
Give us clean hands give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Give us clean hands give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
And oh God let us be a generation that seeks
That seeks Your face oh God of Jacob
And oh God let us be a generation that seeks
That seeks Your face oh God of Jacob
Give us clean hands give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Give us clean hands give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
So, when it comes to the Lord’s prayer, what is it?
I did a search on Amazon.com for books about the Lord’s prayer and found literally dozens of them by many different and famous authors!
Anyway, let’s take a look at this awesome prayer and see what the Lord would say to us today!
First of all, Jesus did not teach this prayer for memorization and constant repetition:
In Matthew Jesus is teaching a great crowd in what is called the Sermon on the Mount and He simply says as a preface …
Matthew 6:9a
“This, then, is how you should pray …”
In the account found in Luke 11 Jesus has spent some time in prayer and the disciples ask Him to teach them how to pray as John the Baptist taught his disciples.
So, from the context we can see that Jesus is establishing a prayer pattern.
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Matthew 6:9-10
“Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
First we need to know Who it is we’re praying to! We do NOT pray just for the sake of praying! We pray to "Our Father"
Show images of the following bumper stickers.
“Prayer Changes Things” and “Believe in the Power of Prayer”
Now, most Christians assume that we all know that we need to be praying to the God of the Bible, but, when the world sees it, what do they think?
If it is prayer that changes things, what about this image
(Photo of hundreds of muslims praying.)
This one is probably more specific but still would be misunderstood by most non-Christians
“I don’t believe in the power of prayer. I believe in the power of the One to whom I pray.”
We pray to God. Only to God. Enough said …
And, if you have any doubt I would encourage you to do a study of the Scriptures and see who the prophets and apostles and Jesus prayed to!
When we think about Our Father to whom we pray we need to remember that many people have had neglectful or absent or even horrible, evil fathers!
If that is the case with someone you are urging to find salvation in Christ it may take time for them to replace the image of their earthly father with the Heavenly Father. And, it may very well take time for them to build trust in Our Father who is in heaven.
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Matthew 6:9-10
“Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
We are praying to our Father i"n Heaven"!
We know this from what? The Bible!!!
First of all, Jesus put it directly in this prayer!
Then, we’ve got our memory Scripture!
1 Timothy 2:5-6
“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and mankind, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.”
God the Father is in heaven, Jesus is at His right hand interceding for us as we pray in the Holy Spirit!
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Matthew 6:9-10
“Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Now we look at the section that says, "Hallowed be Your name."
Hallowed - to honor as holy; consider sacred; to regard or treat with reverence, respect and awe.
The more we get to know God the more we will honor Him as holy, regard Him with reverence, respect and awe!
We won’t need to think about, “Now what was I supposed to say about God?” It will just flow out of us naturally!
Not only does this phrase imply that we should honor His great name but that our desire is that the whole world would honor His great name!
When we see God referred to as LORD in the Old Testament it is because the prophets of old honored the name of the LORD so much that they would not write the name out completely and would use YHWH instead of Yahweh or Jehovah. English translators, in keeping with the Jewish customs, used LORD instead of the full name. Hallowed by your name!
The whole Hallowed Be Your Name phrase sums up to this: the attitude we should have toward God when we talk to Him!
Whether we are crying out a quick prayer of desperation in a time of trouble or spending an extended time alone with Him we need to be in an attitude of reverence and keep foremost in our minds Who it is we have the privilege of praying to.
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Now, here we’re going to be taking a big chunk of the Scripture!
Matthew 6:10
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
This part of the prayer is where it is for a reason! It wasn’t just thrown in there!
So far in this prayer outline Jesus established:
1) Who we pray to
2) What our attitude toward God should be when we pray
3) Now, we’re looking at prioritization!
We always want to rush in with our wants and needs and complaints, but, Jesus is saying this:
“Hey, you’ve just told our Father in Heaven that He is Holy and that He is to be revered and worshiped and you have just reminded yourself that He is God and you are not!
So, what Jesus is saying here is, “Don’t go jumping into your wants! Our Father in Heaven comes first!”
His Kingdom is more important than our kingdom!
His Will is more important than our will!
His Will is currently being done in heaven and it’s not being accomplished so well here on earth!
Is that His fault? No! It’s the fault of His servants, those who call themselves Christians!
We’re so busy with “My kingdom come, My will be done because it’s all about me!!!”
Can you just imagine if all of God’s children would just faithfully live in the first half of this prayer outline???
Praying to God! Worshiping God! Seeking His will! Living to accomplish His will by His power!
The world would be turned upside down!
What if that was the ONLY part of the pray which Jesus taught His disciples?
What if we lived in just those three elements; You are God in heaven, I worship and adore You and am committed to knowing and doing your will even if it mean my life?
What would happen?
I love this quote from John Wesley that makes this very commitment!
Lord, I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will. Let me be employed by You or laid aside for You, exalted for You or brought low by You. Let me have all things, let me have nothing, I freely and heartily yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are mine and I am Yours. So be it. Amen.
— John Wesley
There is nothing in that quote about his personal desires because his desires have been transformed into the desires of Christ!
You see, knowing Jesus as your Savior isn’t about getting a new life, it’s about giving up the life you have for Him. My desires are set aside for His! My energy given to His kingdom. Growing in Christ-likeness becomes my new desire instead of scrambling for a promotion at work!
Just as a test, let’s try to think over the past week. If each one of us added up all of the time that we spent in prayer this past week, how much time would it be? Do you have a number?
Now, subtract the amount of time you were praying while you were doing some other task like cleaning or driving or shopping?
Now, do you have a number?
Now, subtract prayer time at church. What’s the number now?
Now, subtract all the time of prayer that was not about, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Is there any time left?
For most of us, this number will be a convicting number and saying 10 “Our Father’s” won’t fix the problem. Taking the thoughts from Matthew 6:9-10 and chewing on them all week and praying about them may be a vast help!
