The Lord’s Prayer 2 – Matthew 6:9-15

You may have noticed in the previous post that one portion most of us are used to saying with the Lord’s Prayer, “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” is not included in the English Standard Version. The Study Bible explains it this way:

“For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen” (esv footnote) is evidently a later scribal addition, since the most reliable and oldest Greek manuscripts all lack these words, which is the reason why these words are omitted from most modern translations. However, there is nothing theologically incorrect about the wording (cf. 1 Chron. 29:11–13), nor is it inappropriate to include these words in public prayers.

I tend to agree with this, but here is a helpful explanation with a slightly different conclusion for those who want to dig deeper. In the meantime, what did Jesus want to teach us about praying.

“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 also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:9–15, ESV)

Here is how Jesus would guide us in our prayers:

Give honor to our mutual Father. As personal and private as your prayer may be, you are not a solitary supplicant. You belong to a family of petitioners, people just like you who need the One and Only God. And this God is not a distant, uncaring potentate, but your heavenly Father, who loves you so much it hurts. He wants fellowship with you. But He is also the only perfect being in the universe and the Father and source of all that is, so He deserves honor. We ask for His name to be hallowed, set apart as holy and revered by all. We’re already praying like missionaries.

Long for our Father’s kingdom to come. This is God’s great program for history, the restoration of the kingdom that was rebelled against by Adam and Eve. It should be our program, too. We should be desiring its appearing and doing whatever God leads us to do to help that come about. Do we see injustice? How would God use us to rectify that? Do we see suffering? That is not a kingdom attribute. How can we alleviate it? We sync ourselves with God’s purposes in prayer.

Make your needs known to God. Doesn’t He already know them? Of course, and Jesus expounds on this right after this. But part of intimacy with anyone is making your needs known, showing your vulnerability, and trusting someone with this knowledge. And of course, God can do something about it. Daily bread is a survival need. It is certainly okay to tell God about our wishes, also, but we need Him to help us survive. We acknowledge that He is the source of all our needs and humbly request them from Him.

Confess your sins. As David did, ask the Lord to search and know you and see if there is any wicked way in you and lead you in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23,24). He knows them already. But again, intimacy, the goal of praying to God, demands that I open my heart to God. When you do, He opens His heart to you. Intimacy goes both ways.

Pray for strength to avoid sinning. I know, it sounds strange to ask God not to lead us into temptation, as if He would if we don’t ask. But I see this as a nod to God’s total sovereignty. No, He doesn’t tempt us to sin. But nothing happens apart from His sovereign determination. This is the mystery of prayer. I’m asking God to do something that He seemingly may not have determined to do. I don’t know His secret counsel, of course, but He is inviting me to ask for what I desire and that somehow works in His decisions about what will be.

Forgive those who have sinned against you. Jesus knew this was the hardest for us and that is why it is the one aspect of this prayer that he steps out and explains, though the explanation seems as hard as the charge. Those who have been truly forgiven by God, who have without deserving so been released from their debt to God for their sin, must forgive others the same way. It will feel like we’re letting someone off the hook, something we hate to do as much as we like being let off the hook ourselves. But we trust the sovereign justice of God. And our forgiveness of them just might be the prelude to their forgiveness by God. We pray for them to be saved and perhaps He uses us to share the lifegiving gospel with them and see them repent.

Find a time every day to connect with God following this guideline.