The
Lord’s Prayer
Why we pray the
Lord’s Prayer and how it changes us.
The Bible is packed with prayers we might use as our own. Some of these prayers are inspiring, wonderful and helpful. Others seem shallow, materialistic and self-centered. Praying a ritual prayer on a daily basis is a powerful life-changing experience. It changes who we are and what we value over time, so selecting a Bible prayer for regular praying should be done carefully. While there are many Bible prayers worth praying on a ritual basis, there is only one prayer we were taught to pray by the Son of God Himself—the Lord’s Prayer. The earliest Christians believed Jesus meant it when he instructed His disciples to pray the “Our Father.” Thus they prayed this prayer every day—not just once but three times each day. They also prayed it in their worship services. It is the oldest and best Christian ritual prayer. Praying it transformed the early church. It bent their thinking changed their values and set the agenda for their worldview. It will do this for you too if you seriously pray it regularly.
Christians have prayed all kind of prayers over the last 2,000 years. Some, like the rosary, have lasted a long time. Most others turned out to be a short-tem fad or became magic incantations and no longer real prayers. Only one prayer alone has stood the test of time and towers supremely over all others—the Lord’s Prayer. Since dawn this very day, all around the world, in hundreds of languages, millions of Christians have offered this prayer in public worship and in personal devotions. This prayer of Jesus is the supreme prayer of all time. Come and join the millions who still pray it every day on their own, and pray it every time they gather for worship.
But, watch out! This prayer is powerful! Like all ritual prayers it has a powerful way of changing the pray-er. If you pray it regularly by yourself, and pray it with other Christians when you gather for worship, over time it will change your values, mind-set, and outlook. You will be transformed. Praying the Lord’s Prayer has a sanctifying effect. This is why the early church—and most Christians since—prayed it so often. So, come and join the majority of Christians of all times and start praying the Lord’s Prayer regularly—in your personal devotions and before meals, and every time you gather for worship.
Why we pray the
Lord’s Prayer and how it changes us.
Our Father
The very first word of the Lord’s prayer telegraphs to us its difference from many other prayers—this is not a prayer about me, but a corporate prayer. This does not mean we should not pray it privately. We can. But we cannot pray it personally. It is not a prayer about me, my interests, my future, or asking God to bless me and my ministry. It is a prayer about us—the Church, so it begins with Our Father. We can pray this prayer individually but we can never pray it personally. We begin every time with the word our. We remind ourselves every time we start this prayer that we are connected to others in praying. It is not about me but us. When we pray the “Our Father” we are confessing our relationship with millions of other Christians around the world and through history—all our brothers and sisters in the family of God—this is what the our means. Praying this prayer resets our modern self-centered preoccupation. It gets my thoughts myself, my success, my ministry, and turns my head toward the entire body of Christ—the Church around the world and their needs and ministry. In short it gets us to think about what God thinks about. Over time, praying the “Our Father” regularly will cleanse us from our tendency toward self-centeredness. We will come to gradually see the needs of the entire family of God as more important as our own private and self-centered needs. This is such a life-changing redirection of thinking for most people it could be called a “conversion” of sorts. The very first word of the Lord’s Prayer makes us think of others.
In this prayer we address God as Father. When we do that we are confessing our relationship with Him and the rest of the family. We are God’s son or daughter—it is a confession of faith of sorts. At the same time we also embrace all our brothers and sisters in the family. The children come with the family. God is our father and all who serve Him are our brothers and sisters. We are one family. The father of Biblical times was not a modern Dagwood or Homer Simpson. He was the chief executive of the family who looked to the future and provided for the needs of the entire family. While that father related to me personally, He did not do so at the expense of the entire family. God is a loving and tender abba-Father but is also like the first century sovereign king father. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer on a systematic basis we are changed. Over time we will develop an attitude of total submission to the Sovereign father of the family, and confess our relationship to Him and to all other believers in the kingdom.
Who art in Heaven
When we pray who art in heaven we are doing more than providing the geographical address on the envelope of our prayers. We are lifting our eyes above this world to the unseen, to the eternal. God rules the worlds from Heaven. Where is this Heaven? We don’t know. We cannot know. Jesus said he was going to prepare a place for us, but we don’t know where this place is. We cannot build a telescope powerful enough to see it. It is unseen, unknown, a mystery. When we pray this prayer we affirm that such a place exists. We believe there is an unseen world—a place where God is and rules. We are refusing to be seduced by a material world who preaches there is nothing but what we can see, touch and measure. There is a heaven. There is a spiritual world. There is an after life. There are states of being our eyes cannot see. And, God is there. We will one day join Him. Our Father who art in heaven. Praying this every day—even several times a day—changes our focus from earth to heaven, from the earthly to the heavenly, form the temporal to the spiritual, from time to eternity.
Hallowed be thy name
In this prayer our first request is not for ourselves or even for the church but for God and His name—that it will be hallowed. What are we saying when we say this? What is a hallowed name? To hallow God’s name is to fear the name, to make it sacred, to hold it in awe. The ancient Jews so hallowed the name of God that when they copied manuscripts they often simply substituted the phrase “the name of the LORD” in place of actually writing the sacred name down. In fact God seems so concerned with his name that one of the Ten Commandments forbids using the name lightly. God apparently is concerned with His reputation and wants us to be concerned about it too. What do people think of God today? Do they see Him as an out-of-date uninvolved grandfather in a rocker on the front porch? Or, do they see God as a HO-HO-HOing Santa Claus who will bring them things they want? Is God the sanctifier of our personal and national success? Do people speak God’s name with awe, reverence and fear?
So how does God get a reputation? From His deeds and He gets a reputation by association from how His children act. When we pray hallowed by thy name our priorities are gradually changed. We come to increasingly think more about God’s reputation than our own. We gradually get more concerned about God’s reputation than our own. And we hallow His name as we pray, giving God a rare form of praise: awe.
Thy kingdom come
The prayer of Jesus takes a long time to get to us. It keeps our eyes focused on God and His concerns long before turning our concerns and us. The prayer of Jesus is a kingdom prayer. Like most prayers it asks God for things. However, those requests start with God and His will, not me and mine. Here we pray for God’s kingdom to come—it is an “eschatological” prayer; future-oriented. Praying this prayer rebukes our preoccupation with the present. It guides us to think about the future when God’s kingdom will prevail on earth. Most of us are pretty comfortable in the here and now and think little about the there and then. Praying this prayer regularly dims the present and brightens the future. It makes us more forward thinking.
But the coming kingdom of God is not just about some far off date when His kingdom will finally prevail. It is also about His kingdom in this present age. His kingdom is not just coming in the future, it is coming right now. Increasingly. The kingdom of God has sprouted like a tiny mustard seed. It is growing like Springtime wheat in the field. It is spreading quietly like yeast in a lump of dough. God’s kingdom is coming even in the time it takes to pray the prayer of Jesus. Praying this prayer changes our mindset. It gradually lifts our eyes from our own career, our own local church, and our own denomination. The prayer of Jesus lifts our eyes to God’s great kingdom on earth—the kingdom that “now is and is to come.”
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
So, how will we know God’s kingdom has prevailed on earth? It has prevailed when His will is done on earth like it is done in heaven. How is God’s will done in heaven? Immediately. There is no lagging in heavenly obedience. There are no arguments. No foot-dragging. No half-hearted response. No grumbling. Not even 99% obedience. In heaven God’s will is done completely, immediately, and with joy. So where is God’s kingdom coming on earth? Wherever His will is done like it is done in heaven. This is our prayer. We pray that people everywhere will obey God like He is obeyed in heaven. Praying this prayer reminds us how important obedience is to God. He is a king, we are His subjects. Where his kingdom prevails is where his will is done. As we pray this prayer our mind shifts from ourselves to the entire earth. Our mind is raised up to how God sees the earth—teaming masses of billions of people wandering like sheep without a shepherd. We pray that these people will come to do God’s will on earth. We even pray for our enemies—not just personal enemies, but national and political enemies—that they too will do God’s will on earth.
So what is God’s will? We know much of it from reading the Bible. Take just two examples for instance. We know it is God’s will that there will be peace on earth. And, we know it is God’s will that justice will prevail. Peace and justice are God’s will for the earth. Praying the prayer of Jesus nudges us into praying for all peoples everywhere that they would do God will—work for peace and justice. To the extent that peace and justice increase, God’s kingdom is increasing, even among those not yet believing. They are doing God’s will on earth. Praying the Lord’s Prayer helps us lift our eyes to God’s concerns—for the peoples of the entire earth: that they will do His will. One cannot pray this prayer regularly without reducing the amount of preoccupation with our own local, regional and nationalistic concerns. It raises us to God’s level of concern—to the whole earth and His will.
Give us this day our daily bread
Finally Jesus lets me pray about my needs and myself! “Gimmie my daily bread!” Wrong again. It’s not that simple. For even this practical request is not about me at all, but us. It is not a prayer that God would provide me food; it is about providing us food. So, who is us? At the very least it is all those who pray this prayer. Give us our daily bread—every believer on earth. However, it is hard to think of this prayer as being that limited. Is God only interested in solving hunger among Christians? Does He care not at all about starving non-Christians? Most of us believe God cares for all hungry people. So when we pray this prayer it is sensible to think of all those who do not have a meal today—Christian and non-Christian alike. God cares about all peoples on this earth—that they at least have some bread for this day.
This prayer is not at all about me and my lunch. It is about all hungry people everywhere. At least it is about all starving Christians, not just my own upcoming meals. Praying this prayer regular will change the way we do church… and life. We cannot pray the prayer of Jesus without God raising our consciousness about world hunger. And the prayer will inspire us to do something about hunger. What good is our faith if we pray for the starving and do nothing about world hunger? A Christian who prays this prayer daily can’t help but be drawn to some action to solve world hunger. A church that prays the prayer of Jesus in its worship services can’t help from taking up a collection for world hunger sooner or later. The more regularly a church prays the prayer the more regularly such collections will be. That’s how the prayer of Jesus is. It changes our priorities, changes our attitudes, and changes our actions.
Forgive us our debts as we have forgive our debtors
Praying this prayer reminds us that God cares about sin more than we do. We dismiss sin. We excuse it or explain it. God punishes it. Sin is a serious business to God. The popular way of thinking about this phrase is this: “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God—I have sinned too, and thus Jesus is teaching me here to confess my personal sins so that God will forgive me.” Not exactly. Once again the prayer of Jesus is not an individualistic personal prayer but a corporate one. Jesus taught us to say “forgive us our” sins. What is this notion? It is such an alien idea to our modern individualistic minds that we can’t even grasp its meaning. We have so personalized and individualized our walk with God that we can’t imagine a group asking God to forgive the group of sin. Yet, that is what He calls us to do. Groups do have sin. You or I might claim to be a perfect individual, but who would claim that as a group Christians are without sin?
So Jesus teaches us to pray for forgives of our sins—the sins of Christians worldwide. While this includes many personal sins, there are also some group sins we Christians are especially guilty of—as a group. Take pride and arrogance for instance. You or I may note be personally arrogant. And your local church or mine may not be arrogant. But who would say that as a group we Christians sometimes exude arrogance and pride? This prayer teaches us to ask forgiveness for that group sin. We ask forgiveness for part of our Christian family—those who probably don’t even see their own arrogance. We pray: forgive us our debts. Forgive your church Lord; we are sinners. Praying this prayer reminds us we are part of a family and as a family we carry some collective culpability for the sins of our entire group. Thus we pray for forgiveness. And, of course, as we pray for collective forgiveness for our group sins we also include any personal sin combining them with this great package—and we call for mercy from God the Great Forgiver. Praying this prayer regularly raises our sensitivity to sin—both our own personal sin, our own local church’s sin, denominational sins, and the sins of the entire body of Christians worldwide—past and present. And, we remember our Master who looked out in compassion saying, “Father forgive them.” Only sinless One could pray that prayer. He taught us to pray, “Forgive us.”
And lead us not into temptation
Once we have prayed for forgiveness from our sin we plead that God will even deliver from temptation. While we know God never temps us, He does lead us into paths where we will be tested. To God there is a significant difference. Not to us. A test and a temptation appears identical from the bottom side. God does not always answer this plea. He does test us. The One who taught us this prayer was “led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Yet Jesus teaches us to pray that God will not do what he most certainly will do anyway—lead us into a place where we will be tested. So why teach us to pray a prayer God does not always “answer?” Again, it is the nature of prayer. Prayer is for changing us more than changing our situation. God can and does change our situation—we call these “answers to prayer.” Yet prayer, at its best, is not about getting things from a cosmic gofer-God. Yes, “Prayer changes things”—but the “thing” it changes most is me. So why plead that God will not lead us into temptation? Because praying like this changes how we look at temptation. We see temptation as something private between the Devil and us, with God a distant onlooker—God as the “wounded party.” This is wrong. God is an active party in temptation. So we pray that He will not even test us—though we know He will. Because when we pray this way it changes how we think of temptation. We will gradually come to think more about God’s presence in temptations, and we see it more as a test of fidelity.
Once again the prayer is worded about us, not me. When modern men and women think about sin and temptation we immediately personalize it—“forgive me of my sin, lead me not into temptation.” But the prayer is a group prayer. It is OK to think about my own sins and temptations as I pray it. But we must not ignore the group aspect of the prayer. So, is the church as a group ever tempted? Does God ever lead His church into temptation-testing? As we pray this prayer we think also of “corporate temptation” – the temptations our group faces—the actions, and (especially) attitudes of group sin. Group sins are the most insidious temptation in a democratic society. After all, if most everyone at my church has a sinful attitude it seems less serious, right? So even when we pray about temptation, Jesus taught us to pray as a group—lead us not into temptation.
but deliver us from evil
Yet we must not ignore the fact that there is an evil one to resist. While God may test us in a temptation, there is an evil one bent on our destruction. When we pray for deliverance from temptation we follow it up with a backup request. Even when God does not answer the first request, He will answer the second. At times God does lead us through the valley of testing-temptation, and when He does, we trust Him to deliver us from the evil one. When we pray this prayer we are remembering God’s power is greater than Satan’s. “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” God sometimes delivers us from temptation, but not always. But He always is ready to deliver us from the evil one. He desires that His will be done on earth—by us. We are of His flock and He will protect us. Not just me, but us. This is what His church is supposed to look like—a pure bride without blemish, delivered from evil.
(For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory
forever, Amen)
The original Lord’s Prayer ended with “deliver us from evil” a seemingly abrupt way to end a prayer. All the oldest manuscripts end the prayer at this point.1 Over time Christians added a final benedictory phrase probably for its use in worship. It seemed appropriate to add the “amen” to the prayer, though that is not in the original either. And, it seemed appropriate to add the phrase about God’s kingdom, power and glory, perhaps adapted from an important Old Testament passage.2 Most protestants now pray the prayer with the add-on phrase as if it was in the original.
The benedictory phrase take us full circle to the beginning of the prayer. The prayer ends where it started—with God and His kingdom not me and mine. As we pray this prayer regularly we confess God as our king and we are subjects living in His kingdom that is coming on earth. He is absolute sovereign in this kingdom and rules with no equal, not even the Devil. Our God is powerful. He can provide for us daily bread, prevent us from being tempted, and deliver is from evil. Our God is due glory, and will get glory even if it must come from the rocks crying out. Finally, our God is eternal. His kingdom, power and glory are not temporary fads or passing fancies—they will last forever.
Praying the Prayer of Jesus on a regular basis changes us. It lifts our eyes from the temporary and temporal to the permanent and eternal. It changes our values from the secular to the spiritual. It shifts our focus from self to others, from this world to heaven, from our kingdom to God’s kingdom. It helps us adopt God’s values not the values of the world. It is a dangerous prayer. Pray it regularly and it will change how we think, what we pray for, and who we think God is.
Perhaps that’s why Jesus taught us to pray this prayer.
© 2001 Keith Drury. Pre-publication draft
Revisions and suggestions invited.
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Other "Thinking Drafts" and writing by Keith Drury -- http://www.indwes.edu/tuesday
1. The oldest manuscripts do not have the final benedictory phrase, For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen. None of the early church fathers referenced this final phrase either. Thus the Latin Vulgate, the dominant Bible for more than 1000 years does not have it either, as does the NIV and most other translations. The only evidence of this final phrase is from the Didache. The Didache may date as early as 100 A.D. but the oldest actual copy of it is mid-1000’s AD. One’s choices are: (1) The Didache was right and the early manuscripts were wrong—Jesus did include the benedictory ending. (2) The church added the ending for use in worship, and the liturgical ending eventually got in later manuscripts—including the Didache as it was being copied through the centuries. Or (3) Some other theory you come up with. The whole discussion is interesting because it sheds light on your approach to textual criticism. Are these add-on words inspired? Can words in the Bible be inspired if they were not original? Is it OK for protestants to add these words to the prayer in the Bible? If so, it is OK to drop other words from the prayer—or is adding not as serious as dropping? Does God somehow protect the manuscripts as they are copied? How? To what extent does inspiration extend beyond the “original autographs?”
2. 1 Chronicles 29:11