The Lord’s Prayer was given to us directly by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as a model prayer.
I want to suggest we consider it a recipe containing the right ingredients and the instructions on the correct order of introducing them.
First, we prayer to our Father, Abba (or Daddy), Who is in heaven. This is very personal and specific. We address Him directly and no one else. Think for a moment how powerful this is. Our Heavenly Father is approachable, He hears us, and what we have to say to Him is very personal. We don’t have to go through any mediator or representative. What we have to say is direct and private (although others may hear us).
Next, we remember, consider, and meditate on His nature. He is holy. He alone is worthy to be worshiped and glorified. His throne is far above any other principality or power. There is none like Him. He is pure, without sin or fault, complete in Himself, and righteous. He can see right through to our heart and knows us better than we know ourselves. There is no shadow of turning in Him.
Next we consider His power and will as King over all (including the universe or multiverse). Nothing can prevent His will from being accomplished. We are declaring that our will is joined with His. We are surrendering our own selfish desires and plans and saying to Him “Not my will, O Lord, but Thine.” And we are recognizing that we live in a world that cannot see heaven or His Kingdom but that His Kingdom is actually more real than anything we can see or touch. We are also remembering that His Name means He is the Great I AM. His existence is separate from time and space. He IS the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. He is the author and present in every page of history at once. In fact, history is indeed His Story.
We also recognize that the world we live in is to become subject to Him and that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is LORD. What is in opposition to His will on earth is seen in sharp contrast to His perfect will already in full effect in heaven. This will has already been claimed on earth but it’s much like jet lag. Earth hasn’t yet fully realized that God is already begun His work of redemption and recreation. So we are part of the harvest and will continue to labor until the day He returns to establish His Kingdom completely.
Then, and only then, do we turn our attention to our daily needs. With heaven and eternity clearly our focus, now we are able to see the correct relationship of our immediate demands. And the request is very modest: give us our daily bread. This is an echo of when He gave His children manna in the wilderness to eat. Yet, even so, God reminds us that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the Father.
Now comes our confession of sin. Realize that confessing our sin means to agree with our Father and say the same thing about our sin that He has already said: the blood of Christ continually cleanses us of our sin. The key element of our petition for forgiveness is tied directly to our willingness to forgive others. This part of the prayer either affirms our faith or damns us. So many of us pause between saying trespasses (or debts) and the connecting qualifier “as we forgive…”. Yet this is one complete petition. Forgive us as we forgive. To accept mercy but show no mercy only reveals that we never really knew what it was to be shown mercy. It is one thing to receive a gift and yet another to be truly thankful.
Now we ask to be delivered from evil. We can’t ask this until we have confessed our sin and made that confession an integral part of our sanctification. LORD make us holy as You are holy. Deliverance from evil is meaningless if we refuse to acknowledge our sins. This is a petition to guide our steps. As our Shepherd He guides our path and we must agree to choose to walk in the way that is not evil. Being guided is a partnership — something we willingly choose to do. He is the Way and as the Good Shepherd will not allow us to get lost from the path. As the Light of Christ shines in our hearts we must not turn away or be dishonest about our weakness. His strength is magnified in our weakness, that is in resting in His everlasting arms. If, in the flesh, we try to say no to sin we will fail but, if we say yes to God and trust in Him, He will lead us to victory. Let us not allow anything to diffuse the glorious Light that God wants the world see shining — not from us but — through us.
Finally, we reaffirm God is King, that He is all powerful, His glory outshines the sun (nothing could be brighter), and all this eternally, from beyond the vanishing point to beyond the vanishing point. He is the solid Rock, the bedrock of our faith, our blessed assurance, our hiding place, a sure foundation, and the earnest of our inheritance. In Him our hope is secure and we shall ever dwell with Him forever more. Amen.