Let me first point out how unusual this prayer is. We’ve heard it so often that we forget something: these are not thoughts that the average person would think of. Apart from Christ, we would not say these things on our own. These are words directed to God, and we in our sin would never think this way.
The Bible tells us that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Here’s the prayer life of those who have been restored to God. They care about honoring God. They want to stay close to their heavenly Father. They want Him to rule in His kingdom. They want to do His will. Having these desires indicates a healthy spiritual life.
This prayer can awaken or shape these desires in the child of God, but not when it is said as a matter of repetitious religious routine. When God’s ways are earnestly sought, then these words of the Our Father prayer will transform us. They will give us new light about our relationship with God and each other. We can use this prayer as a model for your own time of prayer, but in our own words.
Let’s review the next part of this prayer. (We will study the last part of verse 13 (on the kingdom, power, and glory) in a later article.)
6:11 Give us this day our daily bread
The Lord created every living thing, so all our food — the plants, animals and nuts with their nutrients and spices — comes from Him. In this part of the prayer we are asking Him to care for our physical needs. God is for the body. Our bodies are called the temple of God. Jesus came to earth in a human body.
I confess I don’t pray this part of the prayer like I should. We can do so by praying for our health needs, that we get the right food for our bodies, that we have the strength to take care of our health. That is something we don’t think about very much, based on the obesity stats around the world.
Jesus and His disciples wandered the land without jobs and depended on handouts, so this prayer was important to them. In addition, the people of Jesus’ day did not have refrigerators or any way to keep the food for spoiling, so getting their bread daily was important. Many people on the streets today don’t know where their next meal was coming from. They encountered widows and beggars throughout their travels, just like we see the homeless around us, and people whose cars are their home. God has a heart for the poor. This part of the prayer is for them. God wants them to ask.
God wants us to pray for our physical needs while our bodies age and lose their faculties. Why doesn’t He do something about our dying? He did — with the resurrection of Jesus. At His coming He will raise us up with new bodies that will never sin or age any more for ever.
Another way to look at this is to remember that the Lord Jesus called himself the Bread of Life. Jesus said in John 6 that this bread came from heaven, which He will provide to give life to the world. We need that life. Without him there is no spice and life is bland. Jesus said He came to give us life and that more abundant. Why shouldn’t pray for it? If yo do, then read the word carefully — for there is where He’ll direct you into that life.
6:12 Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
This prayer is found in Luke’s gospel too, but it says there, “forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:4).
Why the word choice of “debts” in this prayer? The Greek word in Matthew’s account is a financial term of what is owed. We know Jesus is not talking about financial debt because of what He said after the prayer: “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
So if someone has hurt us in some way, we are urged to have mercy on her if we want to receive mercy from the Father. Then the burden is lifted. In the previous verse we were praying for our bodies. With this we pray for our souls.
Jesus himself is the example of mercy. He was hurt by the whole world when it did not believe in Him. Yet Jesus is ready to forgive all who come to Him in faith and repentance. Jesus prayed the Father to forgive all those who put Him to death. Can we not forgive the one who hurt us?
Forgiving is hard. What if we can’t forgive, even when Jesus commanded us to do so? Consider these persuasive reasons.
If we do not forgive others, then we are being hypocritical. We expect God to freely grant us this pardon, but we deny that precious gift to others? God will give us what we give others (Matthew 7:2).
There’s another reason why we are to forgive. It proves that we are children of the heavenly Father (Luke 6:36, Matthew 5:44-45). We are children who are growing up to be like Him and reflect His values. God’s mercy is one of the traits His children will share. We want grow up to be like the one we admire. How many of us have wished as little boys that we want to grow up to be like Dad?
Yet another reason: God has placed us in the body of Christ on earth to be His visible representative on earth, showing people the love of God. God doesn’t take it kindly when his own children misrepresent Him and His abundantly forgiving love.
If we want our prayers to be most effective, have right relations with God and man so sin doesn’t get in the way. Saying “I don’t pray much,” speaks volumes about our relationship with God, just like it does when spouses say the same about each other. Something is seriously wrong when communication has broken down. What’s your prayer life saying about your relationship?
6:13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Here, Jesus wants us to pray for our spiritual health. We have an enemy whose desire is to trip us up, to keep us unbelieving, to keep us from praying to undo his evil work in the world, and keep us from letting people know the truth of God’s love for them.
The Bible tells us that God does not tempt us with sin. Tempt means test. God tests our faith or character in various ways. At the end of each day you should be able to tell that you were strong for Jesus or weak. You were tested and shone, or were tested and found wanting. If you know this evening that you will give a report to the Lord during your prayer time, how would you do things differently for the rest of the day?
God uses the evil one from time to time to test someone, such as in the case of Job (Job 2). Job’s friends thought Job offended God to suffer the way he did. Nope; God let Satan do a work to prove Job’s loyalty to Him. The source of our suffering isn’t always clear-cut.
Knowing that such demonic temptations are possible, Jesus is saying we can plead against this, especially if we know our faith is weak. I pray that I not be lead into temptation, but into circumstances that would strengthen me.
We have an enemy. He wants to undo anything for God you started. And if you haven’t done anything for God to begin with, he wants you to forget everything you’ve read in these articles. Has he been successful?
We are told in James 4:7 to resist the devil and he will flee from you. God’s power is great enough to protect even those who are young in the faith if they believe God’s word over the devil’s lies. First John 2:13 says, “I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one.” God is greater than Satan! First John 4:4 says, “Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.” Keep feeding on Bible truths and you’ll be able to stand against the enemy’s lies.
