The Lord's Prayer (It's Yours)
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Several years ago, our pastor encouraged the church body to set an alarm on our phones that would go off every day at 3pm for a month. It would serve as a consistent “interruption,” reminding us to stop and pray the Lord’s Prayer. The time of day was chosen intentionally, knowing that most people would typically be busy at 3pm – it would inevitably “disrupt” something. For my wife, it might be changing diapers; for my dad, a conference call; and for me, it was most often songwriting.
Every single day, no matter who was around and no matter what we were doing…we paused, we prayed, we talked about it. It was a beautiful interruption and so unifying for us all to stop and say the literal words of Christ together.
Most of the people I write with share my theological positions on larger doctrinal issues, but there are many secondary issues where we may not see eye to eye. This is one reason that the first word of the Lord’s Prayer matters so much. As a dear friend pointed out to me, the word “our” should be enough to make us stop and consider: Is that true? Our? Not just mine, yours, or theirs… but our Father.
When we pray this prayer, we do so knowing that, throughout time and space, regardless of any political, economic, or physical borders, we are praying it together as the children of God. This prayer is shared in community with all the saints. What a precious and unifying picture of what is true – today in part, and eternally in full. One day we will gather with the multitudes, every tribe and tongue, and continue what has started here.
As we follow the prayer, we see petitions for things that, if I'm honest, I would not pray for if left to my own longings and desires. I tend to pray for the things that matter most to me personally: my family, my health, favor poured out onto my own life. But this is not the posture of Christ. He prays for the following things:
Hallowed be Your name…
Your kingdom come…
Your will be done…
Give us this day our daily bread…
Forgive us our debts…
Lead us not into temptation…
Deliver us from all evil…
The posture of the Lord’s Prayer is one of humility. It recognizes the Father as holy, set apart, treasured, and esteemed above all else. His will is to be set above our own desires and dreams, and His kingdom established no matter the cost. There are no qualifications or perimeters put on these petitions - only whatever it takes to bring Heaven to earth in the truest, most glorious sense.
Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…
Christ also prays with a posture of submission, knowing what lies ahead of Him: the agony of Calvary. He knows that He will soon stare into the cup of God’s fierce wrath against sin and still say, “not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). I don’t know if we will ever fully grasp how powerful and sobering this moment is – the Son, praying to the Father, knowing the depth of pain that awaits Him; the Father, hearing His prayer, knowing the awful separation that awaits Him and His only Son. We ought to dwell on that tension as we engage with the Lord’s Prayer today. It is not one for the faint of heart, but rather one that will strengthen the person who prays it earnestly.
Give us this day our daily bread…
As he goes on, Jesus asks for daily bread - provision for the present day. When we pray this, I think of how the sixth chapter of Matthew ends, saying, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Each day requires new mercy, new manna, new bread. We need these not only to survive physically, but also spiritually. God the Father gives us grace for every moment and mercy for every trouble. What a truly satisfying and necessary gift.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors…
The request for daily bread is immediately followed by a request for forgiveness for our own sin and the ability to forgive others. May we never miss the weight of this petition! We are called to extend the same mercy and grace that have been given to us. As Matthew 6:14-15 says,
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Christ is showing us that we can’t just sit back and abuse the grace afforded to us. Luke 7 shows a beautiful picture of how a sinful woman, who is forgiven much, also loves much. In stark contrast to this woman, a pharisee reclines at the table with Jesus, sure of his own righteousness. He cannot believe that Jesus would let the sinful woman near him. He missed the point! To be truly forgiven yourself, you must forgive others. You cannot have the former apart from the latter.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…
In the final sentence of the Lord’s Prayer, we return to humility, acknowledging our need. We need God to help us in every way. We need His strength, His power, and His spirit. In verse 8, right before our text, Jesus tells us, “your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” We pray that He wouldn’t lead us into temptation, and that He would deliver us from all evil with the promise of 1 Corinthians 10:3 in mind:
“He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
Consider the word “endure.” The implication here is that we will experience something akin to the exhaustion and pain a runner feels during a marathon. These difficulties come with the choice to run, and yet each runner presses on to finish the race. Likewise, God’s promise to us does not mean that He will keep us from hard things, but that those things will serve as a pruning to make us more like His Son. They will prepare us for an unfading and undefiled glory, won for us by Christ on the cross. He is with us, giving us strength to endure. He is leading us not into, but through temptation, to a glorious future with Him.
We also know that in the face of any encountered evil, we, like Paul, can say of our most painful thorns, “His grace is sufficient for us, for His power is made perfect in our weakness.” We rest, knowing that Jesus has truly endured all evil and defeated “the evil one” himself. He has won the battle. His finished work on the cross means we don’t have to be afraid of evil, or even death. Remember Hebrews 2:14-15:
“He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”
What a hope we have in our victorious Savior! Let us pray the Lord’s Prayer with boldness, with faith, and with certainty that our Father hears us because of what Jesus has accomplished. As we pray these words, we join with all believers from the dawn of time unto eternity, knowing that the answer to our petition is always a resounding “Yes” in Christ. Thanks be to God.
