What The Lord Prayer is All About?
The Lord’s prayer model is the most famous prayer model found in the Word of God. It was given by Christ while teaching concerning various subjects about the glorious kingdom of God on the mount. It’s absolutely safe to conclude that it’s the most widely used prayer model found in Scripture. So let’s read it and meditate on what it actually means.
Our Father who is 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 do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen (Matthew 6:9-13).
1) Acknowledgement of His Dwelling Place
God is known as our heavenly Father. Although, His presence is everywhere, but His dwelling place is in heaven. His kingdom in which He rules the entire universe is located in heaven. So it’s such a magnificent privilege that we have as humans to be able to address the infinite God in a father and son’s type of relationship. And when we go to God with our needs and reverently ask Him to answer our needs, He delights in hearing us.
2) Reverence to His Holy Name.
Within this prayer model, we express our deepest respect for the name of God by revering His name as holy. There’s truly something of great significance about His name. And it’s a sin to use His name in vain (Exodus 20:7). So we must be very careful concerning that issue. The point is that no one would ever be pleased if someone else is using their name in an improper and disrespectful manner, so is God.
3) May His Kingdom Come And Will be Done.
The next thing we do is to acknowledge His kingdom and His absolute sovereignty over everything. His kingdom is the very embodiment of His rulership on the whole universe. So this compels us to think about the idea that prayer isn’t only about the things that we want to receive from God or what we want but what He wants us to have according to His perfect will and timing.
It’s not an easy task to accept the will of God when struggling with a particular unpleasant issue while all we want is to get out as soon as possible. But the question we can ask ourselves is that do we truly have our best interests at heart more than God Himself who has not only made us in His own image but who has perfect knowledge concerning everything about us and our needs?
The kingdom that Christ was referring to in His teaching had already been into existence even before His ministry started, but it was revealed to mankind during His earthly ministry (Mark 1:15). That kingdom has two major aspects: a spiritual and a physical aspect. We as the church are the very embodiment of that kingdom in the physical realm. So the key principles found in the Word of God that we must follow as citizens of that kingdom originate from that kingdom. It means that when we’re doing the will of God, that’s a pure reflection of what that kingdom is all about. Most importantly, it’s the kingdom that we must seek above all else according to (Matthew 6:33).
Nevertheless, we also need to realize that there’s another kingdom known as the kingdom of darkness governed by Satan along with his fallen angels (Colossians 1:13; Matthew 12:26). The great news is that the glorious kingdom of God will come and overcome the kingdom of darkness that we’re fighting against (Revelation 20:2-3; Revelation 20:10; Hebrews 10:13). So the kingdom of God will one day eradicate the kingdom of darkness and that’s what Christ is actually asking us to pray about in this prayer model.
4) Acknowledging God as The Source of Our Needs.
Another important thing that we should do is to recognize God as the source of all our needs. Meaning that we’re to rely on Him in the sense that He’ll meet all our needs in accordance with His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). Giving us our daily bread is not only about feeding us physically but spiritually as well. So His rich provisions take care of both major aspects of our being which are the physical and the spiritual aspect.
5) Seeking God’s forgiveness as we Are Forgiving Others.
We’re to seek His forgiveness for our sins as we’re forgiving those who’ve sinned against us. The lesson through that passage is quite clear. We just cannot sow unforgiveness to others and reap forgiveness from God. We just cannot keep holding grudges against those who’ve sinned against us constantly while asking God to forgive us of our sins. So it should start from us by letting go of anything that we may have held against others. Bear in mind, unforgiveness is a very dangerous thing to hold unto since it has the potential to poison our relationship with God and those around us, along with our prayer life.
6) Preserving us From Temptation
We are to pray to God in order for Him to preserve us from temptation which is the starting point of every sin. Temptation is not a sin but yielding to it is what gives birth to sin. Temptation is commonplace; in other words, it’s out there for everyone. However God has promised us in (1 Corinthians 10:13) that He’ll never allow us to be tempted in such a way that surpasses our ability to cope with it. And when we find ourselves under a temptation, He’ll empower us to endure it until we make out safely. It’s a very important verse that we have to grab a hold of as people who’re dealing with temptation on a regular basis.
7) Attributing The Very Things Due to Only Him.
Lastly, we end that prayer by acknowledging His kingdom, absolute dominion and power, and glory due to only Him forever. So we begin this prayer model with worshiping His holy name and end it by attributing Him the key substances that make Him whom He is. These are the very substances that make God weighty. It’s a prayer model centered on Him in the context of whom He is, how He operates, and what He wants us to do in order to conform us to His ways.
