It's important for us to read the whole chapter of Matthew 6 as our Lord tells us how to pray and how to behave towards others. I'll leave it to you to read that on your own, but I would like to point out some things about these verses in particular.
It's interesting how people read the Word of God but seldom take the time to pay attention to each sentence, and even more so to each word in a sentence. There is power and meaning in all of the Bible, if you but take the time to read it carefully! Not only read it but ask in prayer for understanding ... amen!?
| 1) Notice how our Lord addresses God the Father
first! And then acknowledges God's holiness. This is important! We need to
pray to OUR Father God, not to Jesus. All prayer and praise should first
go to God. |
| 2) Second our Lord tells us to pray for God's
kingdom to come. And He says that we aught to pray for God's will to be done,
after all God IS in control here and always has been ... we need to acknowledge
this fact! A type of God's kingdom is here already, it's the Holy Spirit
within each believer in Jesus. We need to pray for the spreading of that
kingdom throughout the world, and for the coming kingdom age as well, when
God will come to earth and dwell with us. The thought here is that we want
this earth to be a reflection of where God is in heaven! |
| 3) Only after we've done steps one and two
should we continue on to ask for ourselves, for things like our daily needs
and the needs of others. And we ask God to forgive us our debts (what we
owe not just here in the worldly sense but also what we owe Him that we have
not accomplished). Just as important is to forgive others that are indebted
(owe) us in some form or other. This isn't just referring to money folks
... it refers to anything owed in whatever form you/they feel it is due you/them.
This is all about forgiveness! |
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4) Once we've forgiven and been forgiven,
we ask not to be lead into temptation. The devil and his angels are on the
constant prowl looking 'for whom they might devour'. If you neglect to ask
for God's powerful protection on at the very least a daily basis, right when
you get up in the morning ... well remember this: 'ask and ye shall receive',
so if you don't ask guess what? You don't receive! We not only need to pray
that we are not tempted but we also need to pray to be delivered (saved from
or out of) evil!
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| 5) Notice how Jesus ends the prayer again where
He started, he acknowledges God the Father! He acknowledges His kingdom,
His power, His glory! Forever! God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow
right? In all your ways acknowledge him! |
| 6) Amen is the standard way to close a prayer.
Have you ever wondered what the word means? Here's the answer from BlueLetterBible
:o} Hebrew (OT) Strong's #0543 means: verily, truly, amen, so be it Greek (NT) Strong's #281 means: 1) firm a) metaph. faithful 2) verily, amen a) at the beginning of a discourse - surely, truly, of a truth b) at the end - so it is, so be it, may it be fulfilled. It was a custom, which passed over from the synagogues to the Christian assemblies, that when he who had read or discoursed, had offered up solemn prayer to God, the others responded Amen, and thus made the substance of what was uttered their own. ++++ The word "amen" is a most remarkable word. It was transliterated directly from the Hebrew into the Greek of the New Testament, then into Latin and into English and many other languages, so that it is practically a universal word. It has been called the best known word in human speech. The word is directly related -- in fact, almost identical -- to the Hebrew word for "believe" (amam), or faithful. Thus, it came to mean "sure" or "truly", an expression of absolute trust and confidence. -- HMM |
Not in the Lord's Prayer, but equally important to note, is that you must always end your prayer, when you are finished thinking or saying it, with the words (before or after the Amen as shown above):
Why end a prayer or otherwise ask for something in Jesus' name? Because Jesus said, as seen in John 14:13-14 "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do [it]."
Jesus doesn't want us to pray in vain repitition, as He so states in Matthew 6. But He does want us to pray to the Father, acknowledge God as omniscient, omnipotent and everlasting. We end a prayer in Jesus' name because God the Father has given ALL THINGS to Him (Jesus) and it's important that we acknowledge that He came here to earth in human form, from His Godly state of being, to give His life a ransom, a sacrifice, for our own sinful lives ... even though He Himself had NO SIN! He took our place so that we could live eternally.
So always pray to the Father (God), in the precious name of Jesus (Son of God) because as it is written in Acts 4:10-12 "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, [even] by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
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© Deb (Sandberg) Murtagh 2006
ALL Rights Reserved!