Listen:  104 Question 3

Let’s read that prayer in Matthew 6:9-13, “After this manner therefore pray ye: 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 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.”  Although this is commonly referred to as the Lord’s Prayer, the Lord, Himself would not have prayed this prayer.  This prayer asks for forgiveness and the Lord never had an occasion to ask for forgiveness for anything.  We read in Hebrews 7:26 that Christ is, “…holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.”  The Lord gave this prayer as an example of how we ought to pray.  The true Lord’s Prayer is found in John, chapter 17.

Let’s review this prayer to see what the Lord is teaching us about prayer.

The prayer opens by addressing the Lord as “Our Father”, like a child speaking to his or her father.

“Which art in heaven”   This indicates awe and reverence to our Father, who is God.

“Hallowed be thy name”   Hallowed literally means holy, so this acknowledges the Lord’s holiness and uniqueness as the Holy One.

“Thy kingdom come”   The Lord has promised to return to set up His kingdom on the earth.  What the Lord has promised; we are still to long for and pray for.

“Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”   The Lord’s perfect will is the longing of every truly redeemed man or woman.  We long for the Lord’s perfect will to be done in our lives, and in the world.

“Give us this day our daily bread”   This admits our complete dependence on the Lord for our every daily need.

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”   We need to confess our sins to receive the practical forgiveness and cleansing from our sins to maintain our right relationship with the Lord as we read in 1 John 1:9 which says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  We also need to practice forgiveness as we enjoy the Lord’s forgiveness.

“And lead us not into temptation”   The Lord will never tempt us to sin, as we read 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.”  The word temptation is better translated as ‘trials’.  While the Lord does allow us to be tested and tried, and the trial of our faith produces good results, this shows dependence on the Lord by asking that He preserve us from trials.  We should never be so convinced of our own strength that we ask to Lord to try us.

“But deliver us from evil”   This acknowledges our dependence on the Lord to keep us from sin as we read in 2 Timothy 4:18, “And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work…”

“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”  This recognizes the supremacy and deity of our Father, the Lord.

As I said, this is an example of how we should pray.  The Lord did not give us this prayer to constantly repeat, but rather to show us the proper way of approaching the Lord in prayer.  In answer to your direct question: the Lord’s will shall never be completely obeyed before the Lord establishes His kingdom.  However, as believers, we should continually ask the Lord to help us to His will, and not our own.  We should ask Him to have His perfect way in the world.  (104.3)