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Our Father. How do you pray? When
you speak to God, do you pray like this, “O Lord, please help me
. . .?” Some people pray like this, “I pray that you will
. . .” We are distant and cold. But if we were speaking to a friend
named Bob, we would eventually speak something like this, “Bob,
could you help me?” after we had asked him how he is doing and
maybe shared your feelings about the day. Notice how Jesus encouraged
us to pray.
Pray, then, in this way: “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” (NASB) Matt. 6:9 Jesus’ opening statement is intimate. The first word, “Our” is
personal. He did not teach us to speak to an idol or a table, but to
a person - someone who exists in heaven.
The word “hallowed” in the Greek means “holy.” Jesus
is encouraging us to talk about Him at the start of our prayer and not
about ourselves. This is good for us. We need to remember the characteristics
of God. It is interesting that Jesus selected “holy.” He
used one of the characteristics of God that is true only of Him. Only
God is holy. Jesus did not pick love. He could have, but He did not.
We know about love. We practice love, but sometimes we do not. He could
have used “kindness,” but He did not. We are kind but not
always. No, Jesus used a characteristic of God that is totally unique
to Him. When we pray, we can include other characteristics about God
such as: He is all-wise, all-powerful, all-knowing, loving, present everywhere,
and infinite.
Notice that Jesus assumed that God hears us. God hears every prayer that
is made to Him: believer and non-believer. Recently, I was asked
if God refuses to hear the prayer of those who sin, including sinning
Christians. The answer is that God hears every prayer. He knows even
our thoughts (Ps. 139:2). But scripture does teach that God will
not answer the prayers of those who do not repent of their sins (Ps
66:18). But to those who do not believe in Him and then turn and
seek Him, He will listen. He is interested in the heart. A heart
that is content with its sin has a problem.
Your Will Be Done. Then Jesus teaches us to ask that His will be done
on earth just as it is in heaven.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (NASB) Matt. 6:10 Jesus tells us that our first request should be that God’s kingdom
would come to earth. God’s kingdom already exists (Ps. 45:6; 24:10;
29:10; 95:3). God’s kingdom will eventually come to earth. It will
come at the end of the world. Later in the New Testament, we are also
encouraged to pray that Jesus will come quickly and establish His kingdom.
God wants us to pray that His kingdom will come. That is God’s
desire.
Jesus also teaches in the prayer that God is in total control in heaven.
Here on earth, God allows Satan and his fallen angels to have some control.
God also gives the fallen descendents of Adam great but not total freedom.
When we pray, we want God to answer our request. Yet, Jesus encourages
us to ask that God’s will be done here on earth, in your life,
and in my life. God’s will is more important than your will and
mine. What you may ask for in your prayer is not more important than
how God should answer it. We are to ask for His will. In Jesus’ model
prayer, we have not asked for anything about ourselves yet.
Now Our Requests. Jesus’ prayer has been personal and not distant.
He has been centered on God the Father’s desires. Now God the Son
teaches us how we can make our requests. Our requests should follow a
time of worship.
Give us this day our daily bread. (NASB) Matt. 6:11 This is the first request. The rest of the prayer is all about us too!
Jesus tells us that it is okay to ask God to meet our needs. We can ask
that God meet our material needs such as food, clothes, a job, a home,
and other items. But God has not promised, as some teach, that God will
make believers wealthy. We cannot find that in scripture. Some of the
saints of old were wealthy such as Abraham, Joseph, King David, King
Solomon, and Job. Wealth hinders many from coming to God. A survey conducted
by the Barna Group has confirmed that people with greater wealth are
less likely to come to Jesus. Jesus made that clear in the gospels (Matt.
19:24). God will hear the prayer of repentant hearts and meet their basic
needs. We can praise Him for the many additional things that He provides.
Forgive Us. Next Jesus teaches us that we need to ask for forgiveness.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (NASB) Matt. 6:12 This is a spiritual request. The Greek word Jesus uses for “debts” is
OPHEILEMA. It refers to a moral and spiritual debt incurred due to sin.
Each one of us incurs a moral and spiritual debt when we sin, because
we have sinned against God. God is holy and we are not. To God, sin must
be like garbage infested with maggots. It is amazing that God is as kind,
forgiving, and loving to us as He is. When we sin, we have a debt. We
deserve to go to eternal punishment.
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