The Lord's Prayer

Praying is how we talk to God. It is often times one of the first things you learn to do, but I find it so doggone difficult sometimes. It can be just random mumblings of my mind, a commentary on what is happening to me at the moment, a wish list...I worry so much about how I should pray. Am I being disrespectful by being very casual? Am I praying about the right thing? Think about it, God is, well, God. He’s the CREATOR OF EVERYTHING for goodness sakes! That's kind of intimidating to me. Who am I to ask Him for anything?! And then sometimes, I feel as if prayer is just treating God like a waiter; we put in our order, expecting to get what we asked for, and then tip and complement God if it is fulfilled…I hate that idea and feeling. Well, I remembered that Jesus was asked a very similar question by the disciples: how do we pray? And He gave them the Lord’s Prayer. I went back and just really read and studied the prayer we rattle off (I confess that it happens with me) in church every Sunday…I have broken it up to what makes sense to me and commented on what I think it means…

“OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BY THY NAME.”

Greeting, declaration of God’s godliness. But, there is also “Father.” God is caring, providing, and loving, not a cold dictator. It is interesting that we start with “Our Father” and not “Holy God” or “Almighty, powerful God.” God is Jesus’ Father, and Jesus now makes us family. The fact that we say “our” also shows our kinship to each other. The plural “our” instead of “my” can also tell us that we are one. Being a Christian isn’t completely an individual thing.

“THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.”

After the greeting, we ask that God be in control. We ask that he come to Earth and make it a part of his kingdom. We are pledging ourselves to him, saying that we think His judgment is best.

“GIVE US, THIS DAY, OUR DAILY BREAD,”

“Day” and “daily’ both occur in this part, reiterating the importance of living day by day. Need to remember to take it one day at a time, trusting that God will give us what we need. It also shows the importance of the small things. God will give you something as small as daily bread; He can handle the bigger things, too. We can substitute anything for “daily bread”: “daily breath,” “daily health,” “daily patience”…? God is a big God and gives us everything we need.

“AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES, AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US.”

We are human, so we sin ALL of the time. We should continuously humble ourselves before God and ask for forgiveness. Going back to the previous part, this is a daily thing. Each day is a new one, and when we ask for forgiveness, we are saying that we plan to not do it again. This is a big part and needs to be repeated: we are saying that we plan to not do it again. Of course, we will fail again and again, but always ask for forgiveness and try again. Jesus died so that we can be forgiven. Also, we as Christians must follow Christ’s example, so as many times as we need to ask for forgiveness, we need to forgive others. If the Almighty Creator God forgives us, who are we to withhold forgiveness from others?!

“AND, LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL”

I’m having trouble with this section. I guess we are asking that God please protect us from the Devil and his minions. I kind of think of The Screwtape Letters characters. It is once again a pledge to follow God; He can’t lead you into temptation if you don’t follow. Perhaps with this part, we can assess what our weaknesses are, and we can ask God to help us overcome those weaknesses.

So, this is how I interpreted the prayer. I highly recommend that you also take this prayer and see what it means to you. The beauty and importance of this prayer really shines when we take the time to really pray it. Everything is pretty much covered in it as well.

The Lord's Prayer