3-8-2026    The Lord’s Prayer 

           

Most people have some awareness concerning the Lord’s Prayer.  How many of us can recite the Lord’s Prayer?

 Prayers Jesus actually prayed for Himself were the burden on His heart can be found in Matthew and John.  Jesus prayed for strength to complete His mission on earth (Matt. 26:36-42) and when Jesus asked Father to help us to get through life while we remained in this world (John 17:1-26). Read them.

 What we refer to as the “Lord’s Prayer” is actually a prayer Jesus gives us to sustain us each day.

 Let’s take a look at the elements of this prayer

Matthew 6:9-13 KJV

 9          After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

 We start the day by acknowledging that through ‘big brother’ Jesus, God is our heavenly Father (Matt. 23:8-9).  So to whom are we speaking? God the Father!  He is Father because He created all things (Gen 1:1-31) and there is nothing made that He did not make (John 1:3).  Hallowed is he Greek word hagizo (G37) which means to be holy, sanctify or hallow.  Its root word hagios (G40) brings in pure, holy and consecrated or to venerate which s utmost respect, love or admire His Holy name.  The bible says to ‘fear’ the Lord.  Though there several Hebrew words used in the bible for fear yare and yirah carry the basic meaning which is to fear, hold dread for or have reverence towards.  Again there are words describing specific fear but two Greek words phobeo (G5399) and phobos (G5401) are used in fear as in being deathly afraid, And again, two Greek words eulabeia (G2124,\ and eulobemai G2125) express reverence.  So we realize God is capable of destroying this world and making a new one as He pleases (Isa. 65:16-17, Rev. 21:1-27). We give reverential respect to the Lord but we also fear Him knowing all things are in His hand (Psalm 24:1-2).                                                                                                                                                                          10        Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

We desire that things, here on earth, would be as they are in Heaven. Humbly we endure in love and one Spirit seeking to do God’s will as He has enables us (Eph. 4:1-7).  We can bring the kingdom of God through our living in and through Jesus in today’s world (1 John 4:9-11), and we still have the eternal kingdom (New Jerusalem) to look forward to (Rev. 21:2-3).

 11        Give us this day our daily bread.

 We need food so God will give us sustenance to live.  He fed Israel manna in the wilderness (Exod. 16:14-35) and likewise He will provide for us (Matt. 6:25-31) for He knows what we need and as we seek His kingdom and His righteousness, Father will provide all our needs (Phil. 4:19).

 12         And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

 We ask God to forgive us the sins we commit but how often do we consider what we may have done to others knowingly or unknowingly?  It is human nature to sin (Rom. 3:23, 5:12) and as Christians, when we do go against God’s love and commandments we have an advocate with Father and that is, of course, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 John 2:1-2).  Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross that we might be cleansed of our sin nature (Eph. 4:22-24), but how many of us have truly never sinned after salvation?  That is why we need an advocate.  Jesus says that if say we have never sinned, we make God a liar (1 John 1:10). Thank you for the blood (Heb. 9:22).  The thought itself is not guilt but when we have determined to do something in our heart, the sin is committed whether we take action on it or not (James 1:13-15, James 4:17).   Jesus also tell us that if we don’t forgive sins of others, He won’t forgive us our sin (Matt. 6:14-15). Forgiving and being forgiven is necessary for continued Spiritual growth.

 13        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.

 

Again as James said God will not tempt man but when man is drawn away by his own lust, in his

own heart, and he decides to do it, that lust brings forth death (James 1:13-15).  God has an

eternal kingdom (Dan. 2:44) and God is from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 90:12), He has all

power and His glory and He is everlasting (1 Chron. 29:11).

 

Now Luke chapter eleven (KJV) and Matthew chapter six (NIV) vary slightly but say the same thing.  Let’s take a look at some of the differences.

Luke 11:2-4 (KJV)

2          And he said unto them, when ye pray, say,

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 

 

Luke asks Father that as it is in heaven, let it be so on earth. a reversal of words, but the same thing.

3          Give us day by day our daily bread. 

4          Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who are indebted to us and lead us not into

temptation but deliver us from evil

 Luke says ‘as those who are indebted to us’.  And Luke does not include ‘for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever’.

 Matthew 6:9-13

NIV

9          “This, then, is how you should pray:

10          Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come, your will be done,
 on earth as it is in heaven.

11        Give us today our daily bread.

12        And forgive us our debts,
            as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13        And lead us not into temptation,^[a]

            but deliver us from the evil one.^[b]’

 note that the NIV version, also, does not include ‘for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever’.

 

I also have a bible which is supposed to be an accurate reproduction of the 1611 King James Bible.  The bible l have is not a complete reproduction because the 1611 included what we refer as the apocrypha which are seven books from the Old Testament.  Church scholars decided that these seven books of the apocrypha were not inspired by God so as of the 1639 King James Bible, they were no longer included.  Though it does not have the apocrypha but it does include ‘for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever’ at the end of ‘Our Father’ in Matthew chapter 6.  I’ve never seen any ‘original documents so I don’t feel qualified to make any further comments – just food for thought and not argument. Another comment, the copy of the 1611 KJV which I have is written in 16^th century English.  You think our ‘modern KJV is hard to read?  Check this one out.

 

So why should we be concerned about the prayer which Jesus has given us for ‘daily prayer’? This is the foundation of our relationship with our heavenly Father. It is the foundation of our prayer life and if our prayer life should not be in alignment with what Father desires, the rest of our prayer life could be negatively impacted.   As our spiritual growth changes, the shift we are beginning to experience could be operating at a serious handicap. 

 

Reading our bible and our prayer life are a major part of our overall spiritual growth.   As we grow in our Lord, He is changing our ways and habits over to His guidelines.  We will discover that we have been and are continuing to grow in His Spirit, lining up in His will.  The Holy Ghost is He who truly guides us.  Don’t quench the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19) but allow Him to work in us and through us.  After all it is His strength which enables to do what we do (Acts 1:8).  Ask and receive, He is waiting (Matt. 7:7).  His desire is to help us do greater things than what Jesus did because we have received Jesus in Jesus into our heart (John 14:12).

 

Amen