Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Philippians 2:12-13 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; (13) for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
In His teaching on prayer Jesus has taught us to pray that the will of God would be done on earth as it is in heaven. Our Father’s perfect will is done in heaven. And so we see that Jesus was teaching us to ask that our Father’s perfect will, would be done in our lives here on earth. In other words this is a prayer of submission to the will of the Father, for we are saying in this prayer “not my will, but Your will be done in my life”. The above quoted passage of scripture confirms that truth to us, for in this passage the apostle Paul teaches us that it is God who works in us both to will and to do according to His good pleasure. And so by praying this prayer, we are asking God to not only reveal His will for our lives, but also to enable us to be obedient to do His revealed will. One of the ways that God reveals His will for us is through His written word.
Give us this day our daily bread
Matthew 4:4 “But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'”
In His teaching on prayer Jesus has taught us to pray each day that God would give us our daily bread. This aspect of Jesus’ teaching has a twofold application. The first and most obvious application is asking our Father to meet our physical needs, for the Holy Spirit through the apostle James taught us that we do not have, because we do not ask (James 4:2). And so, even though our heavenly Father knows our needs before we ask Him (Matthew 6:8), He still requires us to ask Him. The second application to this part of our prayers is to ask the Father to give us our daily spiritual bread. Our Lord Jesus taught us that He is the true bread from heaven (John 6:51). Jesus is the living word of God. Just as our physical bodies need daily nourishment, so our spirits also need daily nourishment. Our spiritual nourishment is the word of God, which is why in the above quoted passage of scripture; Jesus has taught us that men live not only by physical bread, but also by the word of God, i.e. by spiritual bread. And so we see that just as the Israelites could not eat manna collected the day before, so we need our daily spiritual bread from heaven. Please note that it is no good praying this particular prayer, and then not spending time in God’s word so that He can answer that prayer.
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors
Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (15) But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
In His teaching on prayer Jesus has taught us to pray that God would forgive our debts, i.e. our sins. But our Lord didn’t stop there, for He immediately linked that request to our own actions, i.e. as we forgive others. It is interesting to note that in the above quoted passage of scripture, that the Lord Jesus links His teaching on prayer directly with the concept of receiving forgiveness based on our own practice of extending forgiveness. We have already seen in the previous section that forgiveness is critical in our Christian walk, both our forgiving of those who have sinned against us, and our receiving forgiveness for our own sins. Again it must be stated that unless we have already forgiven those who have sinned against us, it is useless to pray this prayer, for our prayer will not be heard.
Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil
Mark 14:38 “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
In His teaching on prayer Jesus has taught us to pray that God would not lead us into temptation, but rather that He would deliver us from evil. It is our Lord’s perfect will that we should avoid temptation. In the above quoted passage of scripture our Lord has taught us that the reason He told us to avoid temptation is because although our spirit is willing, it is our flesh that is weak, and temptation can therefore easily lead to sin. And so our Lord teaches us to ask the Father to keep us from temptation, for if we give in to temptation then we commit sin, and if we commit sin then we have given place to the devil in our lives, i.e. evil has a place in our lives. And so as we have examined in this section the manner in which our Lord taught us to pray, I trust that you have a better understanding of the teaching which many refer to as the Lord’s Prayer.
Michael E.B. Maher
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