The Lord’s Prayer

With the introduction of “In this manner, therefore, pray:”, Jesus gave these words as a model for us to follow in prayer.

Matthew 6:9-13
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 forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Our Father in heaven

The prayer begins by acknowledging who God is, that He is above and beyond our world, and our relation to Him as children whom He loves.

Hallowed be Your name

A prayer that God’s name will be holy to us, that we will see and revere God for who He really is.

Your kingdom come

We are to seek God’s kingdom — Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”
Which is not like worldly kingdoms — John 18:36 “My kingdom is not of this world”
For His kingdom is amongst us — Luke 17:21: “the kingdom of God is in your midst”
It comes when we “repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15) — which changes who we are and what we do, and this is a prayer for God to do that within us.

Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

Praying for God’s will to be done amongst us means everything we do will be perfectly in accord with His will, the best of all things possible, when we can look back with absolutely no regrets.

Give us this day our daily bread

Our prayer is not just for basic food, but for everything we need to do His will each day.

And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.

This is a prayer for a forgiving heart, of the same merciful nature as God has in forgiving us our sins through Jesus.

And do not lead us into temptation,

A prayer to guard us against the temptations that come from this world and from within us.

But deliver us from the evil one.

A prayer to God for protection against the evil that is all around us in this world.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

The prayer ends with another acknowledgement of God as the almighty ruler of all, to whom all praise and glory is to be given, who we trust has the power to accomplish all we have prayed for.