The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer pictures what living as children of God looks like.
A personal relationship with God:
“ Our Father.”
The word signifies with all the other Christians. While the Bible nowhere presents the universal Fatherhood of God, it does declare the brotherhood of believers. The word Father signifies the relationship between God and the believer.
Faith: “which art in heaven.”
Hebrews declares that without this element our prayers are useless. (Heb 11:6)
Worship: “Hallowed be Thy name”
David felt this part of prayer to be so important that he appointed a select group of men who did nothing else in the Temple but praise and worship God. (See 1 Chr 23:25; 25;1, 7).
In the book of Revelation, John sees four special angels who exist solely to worship God and who “rest not day and night, saying, HOLY, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is to come” (Rev 4:8). See also Christ’s statement to Samaritan woman (John 4:23:24)
Expectation: “Thy kingdom come”
The kingdom is that blessed millennial kingdom spoken of so much in the Old Testament (see Isa 2:2-4; 25:8; 35:1, 8, 10; 65:20, 25) and (Rev 20:1-6).
Submission: “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”
Jesus would later give the finest example of this element in Gethsemane. (see Matthew 26:39)
Petition: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
This suggest that our praying should be as our eating – daily.
Confession: “as forgive as our debts”
The blood of Christ will forgive us of every sin, but not one excuse! Only confessed sin can be forgiven (see 1 Jn 1:9).
Compassion: ”as we forgive our debtors”
(See Matt 18:21-35; 1 Jn 4:20)
Dependence: “And lead as not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
It should be understood that while God has never promised to keep us from temptation, He has promised to preserve us in and through temptation. (See 1 Cor 10:13).
Acknowledgement: “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.”
(See David’s great prayer in 1 Chr 29:10-19, where he actually anticipates the final part of Jesus’ model prayer.)
Dr. Harold L. Willmington, Willmington’s Guide to the Bible, CLC Publication, Valenzuela, Manila 2013
Little Rock study Bible, Liturgical Press, Collegevile, Minnesota 2011
pictures are from the internet.