"Our Father who is in Heaven: Hallowed by Thy Name" God's name is more than name in the sense we say 'firstname', 'surname'. It is His reputation - what He is most known for - and His way and manner and teaching and lifestyle. It is the name He has for being ever truthful, right, wholesome in His words and what He stands by and promotes. It is His reputation for kindness and love and indignation against injustice. It is all this that He shows to be the holy way He is. We have a comcept in modern times that is similar - we call it 'brand'. Eastern cultures have a similar ancient concept even closer called 'nomos'.
"Thy Kingdom Come." There are going to be four last empires one after the other and the Kingdom of God is most fulfilled in the fourth one. The third is going to last a thousand years and the fourth will last forever (when the Christ hands over the Kingdom to His Father). Two first empires might be on the point of materialising as seen in Revelation 11 onwards. The first will come out of the sea - out of turmoil of many peoples like tossing waves whipped up by angelic winds (as when it first happened in Babylonian then Persian then Greek times of empire). then a little later the second empire arises out of the land. So the third will overthrow these first two and some will see it and some will not - the coming of Christ. The fourth will come after a thousand years of Christ Jesus' holy rule and after the final judgment when God will be among humans who inhabit a holy city greater than present Jerusalem but focussed over the same site and forever God will reign over it and the Lamb with Him at His side and those happy to live beyond the judgment second death will be blessed forever to live in the fullest fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. Let it come!
"Your will be done on Earth as it is done in Heaven" -- if we pray it we should also seek to do it - not just live for God, seeking to learn to do His will but learn to do His will the way they do it in Heaven - that is tough but a higher goal than other goals.
"Forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us" "Forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors" Praying these things to God honestly and really and truly is a milestone to attain. The sins we sin might captivate us in guilt and slavery to sin yet we walk into that trap when we start to sin (sin is rarely a one-off). Serious sins lead to an ugly end of life - sins like lying and sexually immoral earnings or benefits and religion for gain and drug abuse and drug profiteering and the attitude of living in and spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt and finally hating those who are good to us. So we need God through Christ and the Holy Spirit and prayers of fellow strugglers against sinning to free us from the slavery as we do our bit to depart from sinning as we are able. Yet it comes at a cost. Yes we have to accept we will be indebted to Him if we make it through this struggle and therefore be prepared to forgive others their debts so we can ask Him to forgive us that we needed His help and the truth Jesus gives but have to accept it with no way to repay the indebtedness to Him that results. Then we can let His salvation in.
"Give us this day our daily bread" Jesus used the picture of receiving bread as a picture of being given the Holy Spirit by God the Heavenly Father when disciples ask. The disciple is a person who believes Jesus came from God when born having been sent as the Christ and believes that Jesus is the Son of Man ever with God in heaven before becoming flesh and blood human on earth and the disciple is someone who believing this persists in holding to the teachings God gave Jesus to faithfully pass on to human beings to whom He came. So this is prerequisite to asking but God sees faith and gives the Holy Spirit according to His sovereign will but especially to those who ask single-mindedly and do not doubt. So ask so that you will receive, don't just ask for the sake of asking.
So if God cannot lead us into temptation why do we pray that He won't? "Lead us not into temptation" Just like people say God does not do evil or send evil but that seems contradicted throughout scripture. We just should not assume our understanding is perfect and should not take things for granted but should pray God will not send us things we cannot endure. It is true, given it is recorded in the gospels, that the Holy Spirit thrust Jesus out into the desert after His baptism "to be tempted by the devil" - God didn't do the tempting but His Holy Spirit led Jesus into it. So we should pray "Lead us not into temptation".
"Deliver us from evil" These words prayed as much as any words are prayed but with how much awareness of the implications? Jesus was known by the name 'Jesus' partly because the name was common in those days among the Jews but why this name among many names? It was given by God but why? Jesus' cousin was John the Baptist whose name 'John' was given by God through an angelic vision too. Jesus' name means 'Jehovah (Yahweh) is salvation' and this name was foretold in the eighth chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah who shared a form of the same name - both are shortened to 'Isa'. So salvation is what God wants us to know is His primary purpose in sending Jesus "For He shall save His people from their sins". Everyone might hear it said "Jesus saves" but the very name Jesus is to tell us that the God Jehovah (Yahweh, the I Am) is the God who saves His people from their sins as He did by sending Jesus. So in confidence we can believe in this name God gave Jesus and in the teachings of God Jesus told and ask God to deliver us from evil and by believing without doubting we will obtain deliverance because it is God's will to deliver from evil those He saves from their sins.
"For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever" - prayed so often and yet so profound. There is no point asking what authority there is for what God has decreed and how God has created things the way they are because it is all His to do with as He wills by sovereign will and in the end He will reign over all things as King. If He says do it, do it. Yet sometimes it is beyond us to understand what He commands and beyond our power to obey. Of course, the power is all His and always will be however great He makes us. And the glory and wow-factor is all His too. He alone of all people is able to say "I am God who was and is and is to come; the Almighty" (Pantocrat - supreme winner against any competitor who always wins by overwhelming power and physical strength). He eventually will have the one Kingdom over all for ever. So that is why we should pray to Him.
Jesus of Nazareth rarely mentioned Himself in open public preaching except to teach about the mission He had as Son of Man to suffer under evil men and be killed and shortly after that rise again. In the Lord's Prayer He mentions God the Father and God's kingdom. It is part of the future that it will end up eternally that God is eternal King and Jesus is Lord at God's right hand, God having given Him, His Son and firstborn over creation, a thousand year reign and power over all His enemies. Even then after a thousand years this Son of Man will hand over the kingdom lovingly and submissively to God to be God's forever. So the disciples of Jesus, united with Jesus will be submissive eternally to God the Father.
"Thy Kingdom Come." There are going to be four last empires one after the other and the Kingdom of God is most fulfilled in the fourth one. The third is going to last a thousand years and the fourth will last forever (when the Christ hands over the Kingdom to His Father). Two first empires might be on the point of materialising as seen in Revelation 11 onwards. The first will come out of the sea - out of turmoil of many peoples like tossing waves whipped up by angelic winds (as when it first happened in Babylonian then Persian then Greek times of empire). then a little later the second empire arises out of the land. So the third will overthrow these first two and some will see it and some will not - the coming of Christ. The fourth will come after a thousand years of Christ Jesus' holy rule and after the final judgment when God will be among humans who inhabit a holy city greater than present Jerusalem but focussed over the same site and forever God will reign over it and the Lamb with Him at His side and those happy to live beyond the judgment second death will be blessed forever to live in the fullest fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. Let it come!
"Your will be done on Earth as it is done in Heaven" -- if we pray it we should also seek to do it - not just live for God, seeking to learn to do His will but learn to do His will the way they do it in Heaven - that is tough but a higher goal than other goals.
"Forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us" "Forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors" Praying these things to God honestly and really and truly is a milestone to attain. The sins we sin might captivate us in guilt and slavery to sin yet we walk into that trap when we start to sin (sin is rarely a one-off). Serious sins lead to an ugly end of life - sins like lying and sexually immoral earnings or benefits and religion for gain and drug abuse and drug profiteering and the attitude of living in and spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt and finally hating those who are good to us. So we need God through Christ and the Holy Spirit and prayers of fellow strugglers against sinning to free us from the slavery as we do our bit to depart from sinning as we are able. Yet it comes at a cost. Yes we have to accept we will be indebted to Him if we make it through this struggle and therefore be prepared to forgive others their debts so we can ask Him to forgive us that we needed His help and the truth Jesus gives but have to accept it with no way to repay the indebtedness to Him that results. Then we can let His salvation in.
"Give us this day our daily bread" Jesus used the picture of receiving bread as a picture of being given the Holy Spirit by God the Heavenly Father when disciples ask. The disciple is a person who believes Jesus came from God when born having been sent as the Christ and believes that Jesus is the Son of Man ever with God in heaven before becoming flesh and blood human on earth and the disciple is someone who believing this persists in holding to the teachings God gave Jesus to faithfully pass on to human beings to whom He came. So this is prerequisite to asking but God sees faith and gives the Holy Spirit according to His sovereign will but especially to those who ask single-mindedly and do not doubt. So ask so that you will receive, don't just ask for the sake of asking.
So if God cannot lead us into temptation why do we pray that He won't? "Lead us not into temptation" Just like people say God does not do evil or send evil but that seems contradicted throughout scripture. We just should not assume our understanding is perfect and should not take things for granted but should pray God will not send us things we cannot endure. It is true, given it is recorded in the gospels, that the Holy Spirit thrust Jesus out into the desert after His baptism "to be tempted by the devil" - God didn't do the tempting but His Holy Spirit led Jesus into it. So we should pray "Lead us not into temptation".
"Deliver us from evil" These words prayed as much as any words are prayed but with how much awareness of the implications? Jesus was known by the name 'Jesus' partly because the name was common in those days among the Jews but why this name among many names? It was given by God but why? Jesus' cousin was John the Baptist whose name 'John' was given by God through an angelic vision too. Jesus' name means 'Jehovah (Yahweh) is salvation' and this name was foretold in the eighth chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah who shared a form of the same name - both are shortened to 'Isa'. So salvation is what God wants us to know is His primary purpose in sending Jesus "For He shall save His people from their sins". Everyone might hear it said "Jesus saves" but the very name Jesus is to tell us that the God Jehovah (Yahweh, the I Am) is the God who saves His people from their sins as He did by sending Jesus. So in confidence we can believe in this name God gave Jesus and in the teachings of God Jesus told and ask God to deliver us from evil and by believing without doubting we will obtain deliverance because it is God's will to deliver from evil those He saves from their sins.
"For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever" - prayed so often and yet so profound. There is no point asking what authority there is for what God has decreed and how God has created things the way they are because it is all His to do with as He wills by sovereign will and in the end He will reign over all things as King. If He says do it, do it. Yet sometimes it is beyond us to understand what He commands and beyond our power to obey. Of course, the power is all His and always will be however great He makes us. And the glory and wow-factor is all His too. He alone of all people is able to say "I am God who was and is and is to come; the Almighty" (Pantocrat - supreme winner against any competitor who always wins by overwhelming power and physical strength). He eventually will have the one Kingdom over all for ever. So that is why we should pray to Him.
Jesus of Nazareth rarely mentioned Himself in open public preaching except to teach about the mission He had as Son of Man to suffer under evil men and be killed and shortly after that rise again. In the Lord's Prayer He mentions God the Father and God's kingdom. It is part of the future that it will end up eternally that God is eternal King and Jesus is Lord at God's right hand, God having given Him, His Son and firstborn over creation, a thousand year reign and power over all His enemies. Even then after a thousand years this Son of Man will hand over the kingdom lovingly and submissively to God to be God's forever. So the disciples of Jesus, united with Jesus will be submissive eternally to God the Father.
