The Lord’s Prayer – Forgive us our Debts

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.

Forgive us our debts!

Colossians 2:13-14 (ESV)

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

What are our debts? Not the mortgage, not the credit card, but our sins.

Isn’t it finished?

It could be easy to take this verse wrong – why on earth are we praying daily for our sins to be forgiven over again, when they were forgiven on the cross? Why do we need to come to God daily if the work is already finished?

It is not that our sins are not or were not forgiven. It is not that we need to continually bring all of our old sins before God once again, over and over. What we are doing is bringing ourselves back into perfect fellowship with God. We are bringing the sins, known and unknown, in our lives back to God, because everyone of us is still mired in sin in our nature, and we have to struggle daily to escape it. (Romans 7 is a great read on this topic!)

Rememberance

What we are also doing is reminding ourselves, daily, of the work of the cross.

The cross is not a nice thing! Many people seem to see the cross as something beautiful, which I guess from a certain perspective the work done on the cross is. But in reality it was an ugly, horrific price to pay for sin. Jesus died naked, publicly humiliated, bleeding and suffocating in intense pain on the cross, not because He needed to for Him, but because the love of God was so great that He suffered the cross for our sake.

Forgive us our Debts

So as we daily remember the cross, and daily bring before God our sins, don’t look on the cross as a beautiful wall ornament or necklace charm, but as a horrific price. Remember that the cross signifies the terrible suffering that our sin has caused. With that as the perspective, how much more will our motivation be to not sin!

The Lord’s Prayer – Give us this day

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.

We are half way through the Lord’s prayer, and we now come to personal petition – the things that relate to us. And rightly so! We have spent our time focussed on God, who He is and what His will is, rather than us.

Give Us

The first thing I noticed is that it is not entirely personal. Give us. This is not ‘give me’ – it is give us. This is another reminder that our faith is a faith of community, a faith of family. In some way we are not just praying for our personal needs, but also those needs of the other Christians who are part of our family of God.

Day-Daily

The second thing I notice is that we are praying for immediate needs. Give us this day our daily bread. We are not praying for even this week’s needs, let alone next week’s, month’s, year’s needs. We are praying that God will provide for us – today – with what we need – today.

There are multiple reasons for this. The first is that we are focussed on God’s will for our lives, on God’s plan, and on God’s kingdom. We are not asking God to provide us with a retirement fund, 401K or superannuation. We are not asking God to provide us with money to holiday to Disneyland (as much as that is not a bad thing!). We are asking God to provide us with todays needs today.

The second reason is that we need to come before God daily, even more than once a day! If God were to dump in our laps a few million dollars today, that we might buy a house, car, RV and have enough left over to eat for the next 20 years, where is our reliance on Him? Do not mistake me – riches are a gift from God, and a responsibility to those who He gives them to. But we are not asking for riches, or even asking for security, but simply provision for this day, for us and those around us.

Lastly, I think this is also a reminder that our faith needs to be simple. We are praying for big things like God’s kingdom and global revelation of His will, but in our own needs we pray for today’s bread. We are not praying for a complex scheme to enable provision for years to come, but for today’s bread that we can be thankful for, and then go back to God tomorrow.

Give us this day our daily bread.

As we come before God and pray this, remember we are not just asking for ourselves, but also for those around us in the family of God. And we are asking daily for daily provision – in the knowledge that we don’t need to plan ahead, strive and fight to ensure survival, but to take our needs before God daily and let Him lead and guide us.

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.