Many of us say the Lord’s Prayer many times during the day or during our prayer times with the Lord, God. This prayer is widely known in the Christian world. However, do we really know what this prayer means or are we just saying it from memory with no thought or feeling

Let’s take a look at this prayer and see what it really means. First of all, we need to understand it’s origin and how it came into being.

The account can be found in the New Testament book of Matthew chapter 5 and chapter 6:1-13.  Jesus went up on a mountain with His disciples and began teaching them. Here is where He gave them (and us) those wonderful Beatitudes. After that he began to teach them things about murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation, love, almsgiving and prayer. It was during His explanation about prayer and how to pray, that He gave them this wonderful prayer we call the Lord’s Prayer.

The prayer is given below as it appears in the Bible.  Then it is broken down into smaller segments for consideration:

“…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.  Let us not enter 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)

“Our Father which art in heaven,

•  Jesus taught that heaven is within us. Therefore, we are calling on God, the Father within us, He who created us to be His physical temple.

“Hallowed be thy name.

• Names are supposed to represent the total expression of the thing it is naming.  Therefore, we are acknowledging and holding with reverence the entire being of our Father as sacred and holy and precious beyond measure.

“Thy kingdom come.

•  Since God, our Father’s kingdom is heaven and is within us, and is most glorious, we are asking that God bring His kingdom (heaven) into our outside, physical world, as well.

“Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

• Here we are asking that everything in our physical world be done and kept just the way He wants it to be, the same as everything in heaven is done and kept just the way He wants it to be.

 “Give us this day our daily bread.

• Jesus tells us in Matthew 4:4: “…It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
• The Lord also said in Luke 12:22 & 24: “…Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls.”
• Therefore, we are asking God to provide our spiritual food (His words of guidance, direction, wisdom encouragement, etc.) and physical food (His provision of blessings to our crops, how He fed Elijah in the desert, how He sent manna to the children of Israel, etc.) daily that we may live.

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

• Here we are asking God to forgive us the way we forgive others. This is a most important statement. We must understand that God will forgive us just the way we forgive people that hurt, upset, irritate and offend us.

“Let us not enter into temptation,

• God cannot be tempted, as scriptures tell us in James 1:13: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: “ Therefore, we are asking Him to give us of His strength to overcome and walk away from every temptation.

“but deliver us from (all) evil:

• God has promised us He will deliver us from trouble (evil).  In Psalms 91:15 He says: “He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.”  And all evil is trouble and trouble is always an expression of evil in some way.
• There are only two categories of activity in this world.  All that is good is of God all that is not of God is evil. Therefore, we are asking God to keep His promise to deliver us from all that is not of Him (evil).

“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

The Lord ends His prayer by establishing the reason we can feel free to ask God to do all these things, knowing that He can indeed do it all and much, much more. Here’s why:

1. First – The kingdom of heaven belongs to Him. He created it; rules over it, and can do whatever He wants to with it.  Therefore, He can certainly bring it into our physical world whenever He feels it is time to.
2. Second – All power belongs to Him.  It is unlimited and without end. No one and nothing can stand against His power or change it. Therefore, He can do all that we ask Him to do and ever so much more.
3. Third – All glory belongs to God. He is that glory. He is the source of that glory. He is worthy of that glory because He does all the works that are good and glorious.

And all of these things are everlasting:

1. He is forever the owner and authority of the Kingdom of Heaven.
2. He is and will forever be All Power.
3. He is and will always be all glory and the source of all glory.

Then, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, sealed His prayer with His holy name—a name that cannot be broken,  “AMEN”