Lord's Prayer Archives - The Prayer Relay Movement

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The Lord’s Prayer

What does Lord’s Prayer mean?

The Lord’s prayer is a guideline on how to pray. This is taught by Jesus himself. There are various lessons that we can all glean from it all. We will break it down line by line. To give it more context we will look at the scripture leading up to the prayer.

Jesus highlights the importance of having that secret place of prayer. When you pray to be heard by others, you have already received your reward in full! Praying in your secret place allows a God who sees what happens in private to reward you in public.

He also highlights that God does not focus on the number of words that you use when you pray. Many words do not mean that God will hear you. He knows what you want even before you pray.

It is worth noting that Luke 11 records this as the only occasion on which the disciples asked Christ to teach them something.

11 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

They asked to be taught to pray, as John the Baptist had taught his disciples to pray.

What does the lord’s prayer teach us?

Matthew 6
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

How to say Lord’s prayer

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,

Acknowledge the Lord as your father! This is who he is, the one from whom you come. This is similar to the address section of a letter. This says who you are addressing in this prayer. You are indeed addressing your father, who is in heaven. The maker of heaven and of earth.

hallowed be your name,

Let his name be lifted. The bible tells us that we ought to exalt his name together. Psalm 34:3 Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.

10
your kingdom come,

Earth is a passing planet. We are to pray for his kingdom to come! This is the kingdom that we are waiting for. Earth will pass, but the kingdom of God is eternal. The Kingdom of God coming sees the return of Christ.

Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

We pray for God to have his way in our lives, on earth as he has his way in heaven. We know that there are ways that seem right to a man but only lead to death. We need the will of God because it is sovereign. His will sees beyond the human realm, into the spirit. He is omnipresent and omniscient, being everywhere and knowing everything. Is that not the right person to be making a decision in our favour?

11
Give us today our daily bread.

Our daily bread is our daily needs. These go beyond our natural needs, to the physical, spiritual needs, as Christ said: “Man cannot live by bread alone!” The word of God is a necessity for sustenance.

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

This highlights the importance of forgiveness. It also shows us how us forgiving others allows for God to extend us the same grace. We are forgiven, as we have been forgiven. Consider who you may still be holding anything against. Regardless of what they may have done to wrong you, pray that the Lord would grant you the grace to forgive.

13
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

We are warned that the devil is laying like a roaring lion, waiting to devour us. Our prayer is to ask that the Lord would steer us away from temptation. Furthermore, we ask that he would deliver us from the one who is laying like a roaring lion, that we may not fall prey to his plots against us.

The ending:

The ending of the Lord’s prayer that we grew up hearing is not recorded in Matthew 6 or Luke 11.

For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever amen

It simply confers the kingdom of God to God. We accept and declare his power and glory. We acknowledge that these are eternal.