The Lord’s Prayer – Your Will be Done

Matthew 6:9-13 (ESV)

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

In our next petition, we are again aligning ourselves to the concept that God is greater than us, His will is greater than ours and His kingdom is greater than ours.

On Earth as it is in Heaven

Firstly, we are asking that God’s will be just like it is in heaven – where everything is perfect. Outside of this sinful world, everything happens exactly as God wills it. Why is it different here? It is not that God does not have the power to make everything just happen (what some would call determinism, no free will), but that he allows us to choose to work with Him (which is free will). God wants us to have free will, but at the same time, wants us to choose to honour Him with that free will.

Your will be done

What we are praying then is firstly that God’s purposes would be accomplished in this world. We pray that the things that He wants to happen actually do happen.

Which brings us to the same point as yesterday, that is, why would we bother praying this? We need a reminder. Before we pray for anything else (and that is coming soon), we need a reminder that Gods will is above our will. That we need to be doing the things that God wants us to do.

I think also once we are abiding in His will, the rest will come without question. We will be fed, we will be forgiven, and we will be protected. We will still be tempted, but we will always have a way out.

Letting Go

But what God wants is for us to let go of those things that we think we need. Maybe we do really need them – and He will provide. Maybe we really want something, and God will provide it anyhow, because He gave us that desire. But first we are called to lay it all before Him, to ensure that all of these things are in His will. And if you think about it, when an all-powerful, loving, merciful God is looking out for you, He knows better than you do the things you need, and what will be the best choices and outcomes for all things.

So as we pray ‘Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven’, we are really reminding ourselves that for that to occur, we need to first let go of all of our troubles, all of our wants, all of our desires, all of our hurts and all of our concerns. We need to let go of everything, and allow us to be aligned to His will.

Matthew 11:28-30 (ESV)
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The Lord’s Prayer – Your Kingdom Come

Matthew 6:9-13 (ESV)

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Our first and second petition recognize what we have covered earlier – that is, God is above all things, and comes first in our life.

Our first petition is that His kingdom would come.

Globally

Firstly, we pray that His kingdom would be fulfilled in this world. We are essentially praying not only that Jesus would return and rule on this earth, but that all that must occur before that time will also take place.

You could say that we know this will happen, so why then are we praying for it? Because again, we need context in our lives. We are just one of 6 Billion people on this earth, just one small cog in the mighty working of God’s kingdom. Before we get to our personal needs, and even wants and desires, we need to first see that the priority is God’s kingdom – not ours. We are in effect taking the time to align ourselves to God’s way, rather than our own.

Locally

Secondly, we pray God’s kingdom would be fulfilled now in His church, our church. We pray that God will be touching the hearts of all of those around us. We pray that His church will be fulfilling her mission, to bring about God’s kingdom. We pray that sin will be removed, and that the fruits of the spirit will show to all, that His kingdom will be visible to all on this earth.

Personally

Finally, we are praying that God’s kingdom will come in our lives. This is almost the same as in the church, except we are no longer praying about other people – we are now praying about ourselves. We come to the point where we let go of ourselves, our desires, our wants, and focus on God’s kingdom. We start to see that for God’s kingdom to truly come in this world, it must start first in the heart of every believer.

We begin to understand that for us to be a truly effective part of God’s kingdom, we need to let go of all of that which is not of Him, and take hold of Christ.

Your Kingdom Come

This is not just a simple request, but a statement of purpose and intent. God’s kingdom is bigger than ours, and it is time to let go of all of those things that would hinder it, and truly become a part of Jesus Kingdom on this earth!

The Lord’s Prayer – Hallowed be Your Name

Matthew 6:9-13 (ESV)

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

God is above all things. He is greater than everything, and deserves recognition for that! That is what we mean when we say ‘hallowed be your name’, or in another version ‘Your Name be kept holy’.

To hallow something is to treat it with the highest of honour, and to set it apart as Holy.

We are doing two things when we say this phrase. Firstly, we are declaring to all that God is above all, and that God is holy. Secondly, we are praising God for who He is, before we even consider asking for anything!

Declaration

Our declaration is not just a public declaration to others, but a personal declaration, that in our life God is the most important thing. He is greater than our kids, our spouse, our computer, our smartphone, ourselves or even our Facebook account. God is Greater. God is more important; God is held highest in our lives.

What does this mean? This for me is a reminder – God is above all, and comes first. The will of God is greater than anything else. Especially in our individualistic western society, this is a reminder that we could all do with, more than once a day! God is greater! God is greater than my needs! God is greater than my wants! His Kingdom is greater than mine! Everything I do should first be passed through the filter of ‘God is greater’. Is what I am doing against God, or His revealed will? Is what I am doing advancing His kingdom, or mine only?

By declaring God is above all things, including our personal lives, we are reminded not to be selfish, not to be self-centred, not even to be focussed on the needs of others, but to put Him before all things.

Praise

Secondly, by declaring that God is above all things, we are also praising Him for that same fact. By declaring God is first in our lives and that He is holy, we praise God in our actions.

And important part of this praise though is that it is the first action after we have addressed our prayer – we praise God for who He is. We hold Him higher than anything else. We declare that He is indeed holy.

Hallowed be your name.

By declaring God is holy and above all things, and by praising Him at the same time, we put everything else in perspective. God IS greater. Everything we pray after this comes in the light that our Father in Heaven is the greatest being there is, and that He deserves to be in the highest place in our lives.

The Lord’s Prayer – in Heaven

Matthew 6:9-13 (ESV)

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

What do the words ‘in heaven’ bring to mind?

A Perfect Place

God dwells in a place that is perfect, without spot or blemish. There is no sin in heaven! There are no unwanted distractions; there is nothing out of place.

Time and Space

God is not constrained by time and space, like we are. He is not of this world – He made this world! He is not limited to our time, or our timeframes. He is not limited to space, or a single place – he is everywhere. This brings great comfort to me, because often I want to be in multiple places at once. Many times in my life I am constrained by my natural self, unable to complete all that I want – but God is not constrained. He is not limited to once place, one time. Think about this for a second, and you realize very quickly this is a good thing. There are 6 Billion people in the world, how would he have time for us all otherwise?

Considering time, there is a lesson we can learn from hindsight. When we look back on our lives, we can see little things that happened, that maybe at the time made no sense, or just didn’t even get noticed at all. And yet when we look back we can see the hand of God guiding us, leading us, and ensuring that for now and the future, no matter what the time was, He was guiding us. God is not constrained by time, and that is an awesome thing! Even if we pray now, he may have already answered, by setting in motion the things that needed to occur at some time in the past. Amazing!

A Place Prepared

John 14:2-3 (ESV)

In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Our Father is in heaven, where we will be some day. He is already preparing a place for us to be, where everything will be perfect, and we will be free from sin. Deep inside every person is a yearning – a yearning for a perfect place. A yearning for something better that we have now. A yearning to know and be with God, because that is how He created us!

In Heaven

So when we think ‘Our Father in Heaven’, know that this means that He is in a better place, not constrained by our space and our time, but all present, all powerful. And yet, despite being in a perfect place, He is there preparing a place for us, and available for us to call out to, and to help us in our need.

The Lord’s Prayer – Our Father

Matthew 6:9-13 (ESV)

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Today we continue our study of the Lords Prayer, and address ‘Our Father’.

The Address

The first thing we note from this, as that our prayer is addressed to someone – our Father in Heaven. It is not a vague prayer for help, like when people call in times of trouble ‘O God help me’. It is a specific prayer, with a specific address. This leads straight to our second point.

God is revealed to us.

We can know God. God has revealed himself to us. We don’t pray to an unknown God. We don’t appeal to a ‘heavenly being’. We pray to the creator of the universe, who has revealed Himself to us both through His creation, His Son, and His word. God is not an unknown, but is knowable!

Family

The next thing we can see comes from both words. ‘Our’ signifies something that is shared. He is our father – not just yours or mine, but ours. We are all part of a family – God’s family. In a way it is a reminder that we are not alone on this earth, but that we are surrounded by brothers and sisters in our heavenly family. It is also to me a humbling reminder – this world is not just about me, and God is not there just for me, but for everyone. We are a family under God.

Authority

Lastly, God holds the preeminent position. He holds the position of authority. He holds the ultimate authority in all things – in creation, in the Trinity, in our spiritual family of His children. God is in charge. And we can take comfort from that, because not only is He all powerful with all authority, but He cares for and loves His children.

Our Father.

So when we begin the Lords Prayer, lets not just take these things for granted, but remember that God is knowable and revealed to us, that we are part of His family, and that He holds the authority. What a great thing it is to have an all powerful Father!

The Lord’s Prayer – Introduction

Matthew 6:9-13 (ESV)

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Today we will begin a multi-part study on the Lord’s Prayer, from Matthew 6:9-13. I’ve been going over this myself for the last few months privately, and the more time I’ve spent on it, the more benefit I have found! So from personal experience I have found this to be very beneficial.

So before we begin the actual study, I wanted to ask this question – why is this important?

The simplest answer is this, that when Jesus taught people to pray, this is the prayer He taught. Based on the knowledge that Jesus wasn’t just some great moral teacher (which alone would at least get our attention), but God, this should be enough!

Here is my perspective.

Jesus was God. We pray to God. Jesus taught us how to pray – so in effect, God taught us how to pray to Him. So logically, if He said to pray this way, then praying this way is something we should do.

Secondly, we have two references to this prayer in slightly different forms. The other in Luke 11:2-4 has this introduction-

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1 ESV)

Both in His public teaching of prayer, and also when questioned by one of his disciples (the closest people to Him on this earth), he responded in the same way. So to put it simply, we need to listen.

I pray this study over the next couple of weeks will encourage you, and bring you closer to Him

Lord God, thank you that you took the time to teach us how to pray. Thank you that you even provided the words and form that we could come before you and know what to pray for. Teach us how to pray more effectively, and to focus our lives wholly on you. In Jesus name, Amen.

(Photo : Flickr\lel4nd)