The Lord’s Prayer acknowledges God’s honor, addresses our needs, and combines the power of the Kingdom with our everyday life!
Today we will be looking at the Lord’s Prayer which is found in Matthew 6:9–13 (NKJV).

In this manner, therefore, pray: 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 forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

In this prayer, Jesus teaches and gives us a model of simplicity for power in prayer. He warns against cluttering and complicating our prayer time with God.

Jesus teaches about prayer in the context of the religious praying that was taking place at the time. He said that we should not pray empty, repetitive, to be seen by others, hypocritical prayers.
Matthew 6:6–9a (MESSAGE) reads,

Here’s what I want you to do:  Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. “The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need.

With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this: Our Father in heaven,”

Let’s look more at the actual model of prayer that Jesus teaches us. We will break this prayer model into two parts.

Part One:  GOD’S HONOR, KINGDOM AND PURPOSE
Our Father:  He teaches us to pray to our Heavenly Father. It is interesting to note that Jesus refers to God as our Heavenly Father fifteen times in the Sermon on The Mount. We all have distorted views of our Heavenly Father because of our earthly father. Their anger, abandonment, inconsistencies, etc., overlay our view of God. Earthly fathers, it is critical that we are doing our best to be godly fathers. We need to change gears now so that we can begin something positive to affect generations to come.

HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME:  Hallowed means honored or kept holy. His Name is not separate from who He is. Our name represents us. Jesus is praying; may Your Name be kept holy and always be honored.

YOUR KINGDOM COME:  The Kingdom of God is the place or realm where God rules. His Kingdom is here, near, within and coming. In other words, the fullness of His Kingdom is more and more present and should be growing on the inside of us. His Kingdom brings righteousness, peace, joy, power, etc. We are praying and inviting the continued expansion of His Kingdom!

YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH:  His will is His purposes, and we are the ones who do His will on earth. We are praying that we would do His purpose without hesitation and question with cheerfulness.

AS IT IS IN HEAVEN:  His Name, Kingdom and purpose need to take place on earth as it is in Heaven!

Part Two:  OUR NEEDS ADDRESSED
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD:  It is okay to ask Him for provision. He wants to provide for His children. The literal translation is “give us today our bread for tomorrow.” This implies continuous provision. We need to remember to go to Him first and acknowledge Him as our source.

FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS EVEN AS WE FOREGIVE:  Debt is an accounting term that means something is missing. We had a debt we couldn’t pay and Jesus intervened and prayed our debt. There is a cycle of forgiveness and we are to forgive “even as” He forgave us. He forgives us, in-turn we forgive others, and He continues to forgive us. Do not break the cycle of forgiveness because it carries consequences.

Colossians 3:13 (NLT-SE) says, “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”

In Matthew 18: 23-35 we read the parable of the unforgiving debtor:

Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’  Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’  So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’  And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.

Matthew 6:14–15 (NKJV) says, ““For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

DO NOT LEAD US INTO TEMPTATION:  Ask God to lead us around or away from temptation. We can avoid and overcome temptation because sin does not have dominion over us.

James 1:13 (NKJV) states, “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”

Matthew 26:41 (MESSAGE) says, “Stay alert; be in prayer so you don’t wander into temptation without even knowing you’re in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.””

DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE:  We are not to pray to be delivered from evil because the world that we live in is full of evil. He would have to remove us from this world to answer that prayer.   We are to pray specifically to be delivered from the evil one or satan.

John 17:15 (NKJV) says, “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.”

2 Timothy 4:18 (NKJV) says, “And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!”

THE DOXOLOGY:  This is a time of honor and praise to our Heavenly Father. It is not found in the earliest manuscripts, but it was a practice at the time to end prayers in this manner. This doxology is taken from 1 Chronicles 29:11–13 (NKJV); “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, And You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great And to give strength to all. “Now therefore, our God, We thank You And praise Your glorious name.”

It is always appropriate to declare “Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

The Lord’s Prayer acknowledges God’s honor, addresses our needs, and combines the power of the Kingdom with our everyday life!