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“The Lord’s Prayer”

 

Hello all. Today’s topic has an interesting place in my mind and heart because the Lord has given me some real life experiences in my life that have led me to question and look deeper into His Word in order to find out what it was I was saying when I prayed what is typically referred to as the Lord’s prayer.

 

Today, I hope to share with you all what it is the Lord has revealed to me regarding what it is we are to keep in mind when we are praying.

 

We should always be very conscious of what we are saying and praying especially when you learn what it is we are actually praying “when thou prayest”.

 

(Mat 6:5) And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

(Mat 6:6) But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

(Mat 6:7) But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

(Mat 6:8) Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

 

In Mat 6, right before Jesus tells us how we are to pray, he gives us these statements and admonitions. This is hugely important when we are taking in the very moment the Lord instructs us on how we are to address Him with prayer. There is a very specific order of importance in the wording which the Lord gives us if we are able to see it. Before we get to that though, we need to put ourselves in the shoes of Christ’s disciples that day and understand what was just told to them.

 

Ok, let’s move on to the actual prayer reference in both Matthew and Luke.

 

(Mat 6:9) After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

(Mat 6:10) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

(Mat 6:11) Give us this day our daily bread.

(Mat 6:12) And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

(Mat 6:13) And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

 

Isn’t it just amazing that throughout the scriptures, the Lord gets right to the point and keeps it short and sweet. I want to break down each of these five verses into what I believe the scriptures reveal as being the proper order for us to understand just what it is we are praying for and about. All of this could very well be something you have all come to the conclusion on, and if so, this will just be a second admonition. If not, I believe we all will receive a blessing by just understanding how it is our Lord told us to pray.

 

1) Hallowed be thy name

 

In Mat 6:9 we have:

 

(Mat 6:9) After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

 

First and foremost we ALWAYS address our Father as such, our FATHER. We have but ONE FATHER and He is IN HEAVEN. It is also slightly important that we give him His respect. Actually, it is VASTLY IMPORTANT that we come to Him HUMBLY! We have a Father and we have a Master!

 

(Mal 2:10)  Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
(Mat 23:8) But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.

(Mat 23:9) And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

(Mat 23:10) Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

 (Lev 22:31)  Therefore shall ye keep my commandments, and do them: I am the LORD.
(Lev 22:32)  Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD which hallow you,
(Lev 22:33)  That brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD.

 

We CANNOT call on the Lord in prayer without calling him properly. When we make any telephone call to a person, we have to dial the proper number, and this is no different with calling on the Lord in prayer. When you address me, I will only know you are talking to me when you call me by my name. In order for us to be calling on the name of the Lord we MUST be keeping His commandments or we ARE NOT calling on the name of the Lord. We are in fact calling on “another jesus” if we are not keeping His commandments.

 

           (Luk 6:46) And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say

 

(Mat 7:21) Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

(Mat 7:22) Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

(Mat 7:23)  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

 

“I never knew you” is the same as saying, you never called on me, you called on someone else with another name. You might have said Lord, Lord but that is not my name. Calling my name is DOING THE THINGS I SAY which is what I came to do … the WILL of the Father!

 

What exactly are we doing when we pray as Christ instructed and “hallow the name of the Father?”

 

Well, the word used as “hallow” here in Greek is G37:

 

G37

αγιαζω

hagiazo

Total KJV Occurrences:29

sanctified, 16

Joh_10:36, Joh_17:19, Act_20:32, Act_26:18, Rom_15:16, 1Co_1:2, 1Co_6:11, 1Co_7:14 (2), 1Ti_4:5, 2Ti_2:21, Heb_2:11, Heb_10:10, Heb_10:14, Heb_10:29, Jdg_1:1

sanctify, 6

Joh_17:17, Joh_17:19, Eph_5:26, 1Th_5:23, Heb_13:12, 1Pe_3:15

sanctifieth, 4

Mat_23:17, Mat_23:19, Heb_2:11, Heb_9:13

hallowed, 2

Mat_6:9, Luk_11:2

holy, 1

Rev_22:11

 

The same word used in Mat 6:9 as hallowed is used as mostly sanctified, santify and sanctifieth everywhere else in Greek. It is used as hallowed in Matthew and Luke and as Holy once in Revelation. Mostly it is used as santify or sanctification so we must sanctify the name of the Father. How do we do that?

 

We can look at the first time “hagiazo” is used to get a clearer picture of this and that is in Joh 10:36. In Joh 10:36 we see this:

 

(Joh 10:36) Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

(Joh 10:37) If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.

(Joh 10:38)  But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

 

The Father sanctified or holied Christ to be sent into the world. We known that because just as Christ testified to here Christ’s works were what showed the Father was in Him and He was in the Father. His works are the Will of the Father, which Christ testified over and over as being why He was sent. We only need to look at one more example to know what the spirit reveals about “hallowing the name of the Father”, and the verse we can look at is Joh 17:17 and what it used there as sanctify.

 

(Joh 17:15) I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

(Joh 17:16) They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

(Joh 17:17)  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

(Joh 17:18) As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

(Joh 17:19) And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

 

Here we can clearly see that Christ says we are not of the world but we are sent INTO THE WORLD, and because Christ is sanctified we are also sanctified but HOW are we sanctified?

 

We are sanctified through the TRUTH. What is the truth, THY WORD IS TRUTH!

 

So, when we “hallow thy name” when we pray, we are sanctifying the name of the Father by keeping His commandments which is KEEPING THE WORD OF GOD. We keep it by setting it aside as something very important to us. We do exactly what the scriptures say we do, but we also have to confess that is what we are doing. We MUST confess the true name of Jesus Christ and that can only be done by “living every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” and acknowledging that we are doing so. If we DO NOT acknowledge it as such, then we DENY that we have to “keep the sayings of the prophecy of the book”– JESUS CHRIST, which  is what we all do at our appointed time – we add to and take away….

 

(Deu 8:3)  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

 

(Mat 4:4)  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

 

2) Thy Kingdom Come

 

That is the first way we can even start to pray to the Lord. We must be doing the things which He says to do, the Will of the Father in Heaven. Huh! Isn’t it amazing how that works because the VERY NEXT verse in Matthew states just that progression:

 

(Mat 6:10) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

 

Amen! The first thing we are told by Christ to ask for after acknowledging who are Father is and that WE are his children, is to ask for His kingdom to come. Where is that kingdom to come? In earth as in heaven!

 

In and on my FLESH as in my MIND. Earlier in Mat 5 we are told:

(Mat 5:3) Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(Mat 5:4) Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.(Mat 5:5) Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

So where is the kingdom of heaven and what is the earth? Is Christ giving us a geography lesson here? Well, it is a spiritual geography lesson.

 

Before I continue, I just want to make sure everyone understands that I will always, Lord willing, be representing that Word as exactly what it is primarily – SPIRIT. All the words Christ spoke are spirit and they are life, and that is exactly how I will present these verses as being – SPIRIT.

 

(Joh 6:63) It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

 

Christ is NOT talking about the earth here as the planet we walk on and he is not talking about heaven here are the firmament above the earth that we refer to as the sky. He is speaking of these two things as spiritual matters and words. So, we must address them as such. Earth here is is vastly different than that, but frist we must acknowledge what is coming in earth as in heaven and that is “THY KINGDOM COME”.

 

Where is the kingdom? I am sure you all know, but in case you don’t lets do a recap.

 

(Mat 6:33) But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

 

(Mat 12:28) But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. 

 

(Luk 17:20)  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

(Luk 17:21) Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

 

So, if the kingdom of God is within you, when you pray as Christ instructed you are praying that the kingdom of God come WITHIN YOU. That should be crystal clear given the above scripture. When we pray they will be done in earth as in heaven we are praying that as OUR HEAVENS are GOVERNED by the mind of Christ, let the Lord’s will be done ALSO IN OUR EARTH  – US – OUR FLESH.

 

We are of the earth, the dust of the ground. Our earth is what is given to us naturally, and our physically body will go back to it. However, our earth is also naturally our CARNAL mind that will be destroyed with the brightness of His coming… IS, Was and Will be, each and every time another part of our earth is consumed.

 

Paul puts it this way early in his ministry:

 

(Gal 5:16) This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

 

(Gal 5:17)  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

 

See, when we pray thy kingdom come, what we really are asking for is DEATH to come to us and our flesh – AND IT WILL in due time. What Christ really did here by telling us to pray in such a manner was show us just how contray the earth is to heaven. They are polar opposites, so we are told to pray that the will of the Father be done on earth as in heaven simply to make sure we are always aware of what is going on, and that is why it is the next most important thing that we are told to do when we pray.

 

3) Our Daily Bread

 

(Mat 6:11) Give us this day our daily bread.

 

We just went over how important it is to sanctify the name of the Father, and we do that by keeping His commandments which translate into keeping His doctrines and having the mind of Christ. Praying that we are given our daily bread is once again acknowledging just how dependent we are on our Father in this whole process. If we die daily, if our earth is DYING DAILY, then we must all realize that through this death of the flesh comes Life and that only by the truth, the Word of God. We saw earlier that the TRUTH the Word of God is what hallows us, so we are essentially praying that Christ be given to us as our head EVERY day.

(1Co 15:31)  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
(Rev 19:13)  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
(Luk 22:19)  And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 

Our body, the church of the living God, the BODY of Christ is what we are given and are asking to be given each and everyday. We are asking, to be given the Christ the body…. and neglecting this fact is neglecting what Christ says to do in Luk 22:19 ….. we are to “do this in remembrance of me”. If we are not caring for our brothers and sisters in Christ, then we simply are not doing so in remembrance of Christ and his Christ.

 

We die daily to ourselves and we ask to give ourselves as a living sacrifice to Christ or rather to His body – to one another!

 

(Gal 2:20)  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

           

(Rom 12:1)  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

(Rom 12:2)  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

 

(Col 1:24)  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

(Col 1:25)  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;

(Col 1:26) Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

(Col 1:27)  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

 

We truly fulfill the Word of God by making known the mystery that is in us, Christ and if Christ is in us then so to is His body, Christ’s Christ. That is what we are asking for when we pray “give us this day our daily bread”.

 

4) Forgiveness

 

           (Mat 6:12) And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

 

I want to point out that our debts are our sins, and we are all guilty of sin. We again acknowledge this by praying that we be forgiven for those sins as WE forgive the sins that are committed by us. It Isa 100 times easier to due this when you acknowledge that God the Father is sovereign and He is working all things. The KJV has this as debts, but it is indeed sin, as can be proven with just the KJV. Here is the Greek:

 

G3781

οφειλετης

opheilete s

Total KJV Occurrences:7

debtors, 3

Rom_8:12, Rom_15:27, Mat 6:12

debtor, 2

Rom_1:14, Gal_5:3

owed, 1

Mat_18:24

sinners, 1

Luk_13:4

 

In Luk 13:4 we have:

 

(Luk 13:4) Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?

 

Here you can see that sinners is translated as debtors in Matthew. You can look at various translations and they have it correctly listed as sin and the forgiveness of that sin. How important is forgiveness? We are told a few verses after Mat 6:12:

(Mat 6:14) For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
(Mat 6:15) But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 

Being given the ability to forgive is such a gift from God and it is not something that we naturally do, and I know everyone of you will attest to that. However, it is something we MUST pray for because as our flesh is warring against or spirit, we must remain diligent in making sure we do what the Lord commands. We have sinned so that our debt is in the billions yet our tendency is to not forgive those that owe us next to nothing in comparison to what we owe the Lord. So, we must pray for this gift to be given to us daily.

 

5) Evil

 

(Mat 6:13) And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

 

What seems to be the most important thing to us is one of the least important to the Father in His order of things that He inspired Christ to give to us as an example. Yes, it is the LORD who causes us to be LEAD into TEMPTATION and it is the LORD who DELIVERS us if that is what He chooses to do. Believe it or not, but we in and of ourselves would give into temptation EVERY single time if the Lord didn’t step in and deliver us from OURSELVES.

 

(Isa 45:7)  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
(Pro 16:1)  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

(Pro 16:3)  Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

 

When the Lord tells us to pray a certain way, it is for good reason. He already knows our entire makeup and thinking because He formed us and he Knows all of our days, so He knows what we need to acknowledge about Him. We need to acknowledge just how much we are NOTHING and just how much He is everything! He does this so that we will know we need Him!

 

(Psa 107:5)  Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.

(Psa 107:6)  Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.

 

It is the Lord who creates evil, so it is the Lord who wants us to cry out to be delivered from the evil. Our Father wants ALL THE CREDIT because it is due to Him and Him alone.

 

The last part of this verse, “For thine is the kingdom, and power and the glory forever, Amen” is not actually in Luke as how Christ told the disciples to pray. This particular line is in some of the older manuscripts and in some of the oldest it is not. This is something I need to further study for myself, so I will not comment on this completely except to say that it is not in Luke in any manuscript, and Luke is where we as disciples are told “when ye pray”…. And they are not told to pray this last part of the verse that is given in Matthew.

 

Conclusion

 

I hope that I have been used today to show you what has been revealed to me about how we are to pray. There is a specific order of acknowledgement that goes along with how and what we pray for.

 

We are too:

1. Hallow or sanctify the name of our Father
2. Pray the Kingdom will Come in Us
3. Be given the body of Christ, the Christ daily as we are a living sacrifice for this purpose
4. Forgive in all instances – without exception if we hope to be forgiven
5. Acknowledge with prayer that we ARE caused to be lead into temptation but when we are we are DELIEVERD by the Father and NOT by our own doings.

 

I hope this was of some value to you all.