12 SEP 2022 · We can quote this verse verbatim. It is prayed. It is song. But do we really understand what it is that we are praying when we say this prayer? Do we understand what we are asking of God?
Have we ever taken a second and considered it Beyond just reading it, quoting it, or repeating it after others as a call and response?
This is a very powerful prayer and one that we need to take the moment to ponder deeply in our hearts. Selah
Our Father...
[ We need to recognize that GOD is our FATHER. Our parent. He knows us intimately. He knows the number of hairs on our heads. He awakens us every morning. He provides for our needs and wants to give us some wants also. He cares for us, provides, protects, corrects, and disciplines us like a parent (Hebrews 12:5-12) ]
Our Father in heaven...
[ We need to not forget that Our Father is Sovereign. He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent. Nothing is hidden from him. Everything is naked and openly exposed before Him. Therefore we need to humble ourselves before Him. We need to respect Him, and when we approach Him there should be reverent fear because of who He is. ]
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name...
[Hallowed means holy, clean, cleansed from any wrong that might be imputed. When we say that His name is hallowed, we are telling God that He was right all along and we were wrong. We are telling God that we should have listened to Him from the very beginning. We are saying to God that HE is free from the guilt of all that Satan and man have charged him of.
Satan said to Eve that God lied about her and Adam dying if they ate from the tree. That was the first great lie told on our Father.
The next lie Satan told was when he insinuated that God is buying our love by blessing us and covering over us. See Job chapters 1 and 2.]
Our Father in Heaven, HALLOWED be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come...
[God's Kingdom is a government that is going to put an end to the governments of this world. (See Daniel 2:44) We need God's Kingdom to come and fix this world and the earth that we have destroyed with our disobedience. Man has tried. There have been different regimes, different rulers, different types of government and ultimately man has made things worse. We need God's Kingdom because man's government is not working. ]
Your Kingdom come. Your will be done...
[We like to fuss about how we have "free will", yet the truth of the matter is that in our free will we have been messing things up. We have been selfish in how we have operated. We have been allowed free will to show us that we actually need God and that we cannot do things of our own strength and understanding. We need help. We need God's Will to be done. Not God's permissive will, but God's perfect will. ]
Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven...
[ God's will is already being done in heaven. The enemy of our Lord has been cast out of heaven. Heaven has been cleansed of the antagonist. We need for the earth to be cleansed of all wickedness too. ]
Give us this day our daily bread...
[ Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus is the bread from heaven. Whenever we call upon the name of Jesus we are asking for our daily bread we are asking for a daily word. We are told that He sent His Word and healed us, and delivered us from our destructions. Notice that the prayer says "daily". We are to read in God's Word day and night. We are to feed on the Word of God daily. We ask God to provide this to us and He did, but are we availing ourselves of this bread. Are we eating the bread that God has given to us? Are we hearing it, listening to it, reading it? ]
Forgive us our debts...
[We have inherited sin. Therefore we have to deal with transgressions (acts of sin) that we commit unknowingly; and iniquities (when we know how to do what is right but we do wrong). We all have this battle. ]
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors...
[ There is no one sin greater than the other. The forgiveness we desire to receive is dependent upon the forgiveness we give to others. ]
and Do not lead us into temptation...
[ Revelation 2:10; James 1:2-4; Zechariah 13:9; and the better-known verse is Matthew 4:1 where the Spirit led Jesus in the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Jesus told us to pray that we do not have to go through that at Luke 22: 40. He warns us ahead of time. Are we listening? ]
But deliver us from the evil one...
[He tells us at James 4:7 how He delivers us. It starts with submission. Again, we must lay down that free will and take upon ourselves God's will.]
For Yours is the Kingdom and the power, and the glory forever
[The right to rule belongs to our Father in Heaven. It always has. We thought we could do it better. We were wrong. To God belongs the power and the glory. How long? FOREVER.
and when we find ourselves in agreement with that which King Jesus taught us to pray, we end by saying.
AMEN Amen amen