The Lord's Prayer

A show or a talk? Jesus said, “When you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites” (6:5). A hypocrite is someone who pretends, like an actor playing a part. Praying to be seen. They loved to pray “standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men” (6:5). Their prayers were really aimed at the crowd. They got what they wanted. “Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward” (6:5). People admired them, and that was all they got. Your room. “Go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place” (6:6). Jesus was not saying we can never pray with others. He was talking about the heart. He sees. “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (6:6). God notices every quiet prayer, even one nobody else hears. Jesus did it too. Jesus got up early in the morning to pray alone (Mark 1:35), and He “often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:16). Honest with God. Because the prayer is for God alone, you can tell Him the truth: what you are glad about, what you are scared of and what you did wrong. What we learn. Prayer is not about sounding good. It is about being with your Father, who loves you and listens.

Hypokritēs (6:5). The Greek word hypokritēs (say: hoo-po-kree-TACE) was used for a stage actor who spoke from behind a mask. Jesus used it for people whose prayers were a performance. Synagogues and street corners. Jewish people often prayed at set times of the day. A man who stopped to pray on a busy corner could make sure everyone saw how faithful he looked. Paid in full. “Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.” The words Jesus used were written on receipts in that time to mean paid in full. The praise of people was the whole payment. Nothing more was coming. The secret place (6:6). The word for room meant an inner storeroom, often the only room in a house with a door that shut. Jesus pictured the most ordinary, private place in a home. Not against praying together. The first believers prayed together often (Acts 2:42). Jesus is warning about the audience of our prayers, not their location. The question is whom we are trying to please. Rewarded openly. God sees what no one else sees, and His reward is real: answered prayer, His nearness and treasure in heaven (6:19-21). Spirit and truth. “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Prayer is a real conversation with a real Father. Jesus' own habit. “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed” (Mark 1:35). The Son of God made time to be alone with His Father. So can you.

Prayer is talking with God. It is not a show for other people. Some people prayed so others would think they were good. People praised them, and that was their only reward. Jesus called them hypocrites. A hypocrite is like an actor wearing a mask. Jesus wants us to be real with God. You can pray in your bedroom with the door shut. Nobody else may hear you, but your Father does. He sees what is done in secret. Jesus Himself often went to quiet places to pray. You can tell God anything, because He is your Father. He is never too busy for you.

Prayer is talking with God. You do not have to show off. God hears you in a quiet place. He loves to hear you!

Empty words. “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do” (6:7). Vain means empty. Heathen means people who did not know the true God. Many words. “For they think that they will be heard for their many words” (6:7). They tried to wear their gods down with talking. Not like them. “Therefore do not be like them” (6:8). Our God is not far away or hard to please. He already knows. “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (6:8). Then why pray? Prayer is not giving God news He has not heard. It is spending time with Him, trusting Him and asking as His child. “Ask, and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7). Can I say a prayer twice? Yes. Jesus once prayed the same words more than once Himself (Matthew 26:44). He warns against empty words said without thinking, as if they were a magic spell. A pattern to follow. The prayer Jesus gives next starts with “In this manner” (6:9). It shows us how to pray. We can pray the words themselves, as long as we mean them from the heart. What we learn. You do not need fancy words. Your Father knows you and wants to hear from you.

Vain repetitions (6:7). The word Jesus used sounds like babbling: piling up words and names in the hope that one of them works. In 1 Kings 18:26 the prophets of Baal cried out to their god from morning until noon, and no one answered. A different kind of God. That kind of prayer tried to control a god with the right formula. Jesus teaches the opposite: you cannot manage your Father, but you can trust Him. Knowledge and love (6:8). “Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” Later in the same sermon Jesus says this about food and clothing: “your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (6:32). Why ask? God has chosen to work through the prayers of His children. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). Prayer changes things, and it changes us. Repeating is not the problem. In the garden Jesus prayed a third time, saying the same words (Matthew 26:44). Empty words are the problem: words said without the heart behind them. A model prayer (6:9). “In this manner” introduces a pattern. Luke 11:1-4 records Jesus teaching it again after one of His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. God's people have prayed these words for two thousand years, and that is good when the heart goes with the words. Help with words. When we do not know what to say, “the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses” (Romans 8:26). God's children never have to find perfect words before they may speak to their Father.

Some people thought God listened only to long prayers. They said the same words over and over. They hoped all those words would make God listen. Jesus said not to pray like that. God is not a machine that needs the right words. He is our Father, and He already knows what we need. So why should we pray at all? We pray because God wants to be close to us. Little children talk to the people who love them. God wants to hear your voice too. You can use simple words. You can even pray quietly in your heart.

God already knows what you need. You do not need lots of words. Talk to Him like a child who is loved.

Start with God. “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name” (6:9). This is our memory verse. Our. The prayer begins with the word Our. When you pray, you belong to a big family of God's children. Father. Jesus invites us to call the Maker of everything Father. People who trust Jesus can really say it: “to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). In heaven. Our Father is close, but He is also great and holy, above everything He made. Hallowed. Hallowed means treated as holy. We are asking that God's name, which means God Himself, would be honored by us and by everyone (compare Exodus 20:7). His kingdom. “Your kingdom come” (6:10). God's kingdom is His rule as King. It starts in a heart that trusts Jesus, and one day Jesus will return and rule over all. His will. “Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven” (6:10). In heaven, everyone obeys God gladly. We ask for that here, starting with us. What we learn. Prayer starts with who God is, not with our list. When God comes first, our needs find their right place (6:33).

A family prayer (6:9). Every word the prayer uses for the people praying is plural: our, us and we. Even when you pray alone, you pray as part of God's family. Father. Israel knew God as the Father of the nation, but Jesus taught His followers to speak to God as their own Father. He is also the only way to the Father: “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Hagiazō (6:9). “Hallowed” translates hagiazō (say: hah-gee-AHD-zoh), to treat as holy or set apart. God's name already is holy. We pray that He will be honored as holy in our lives and in the world. Isaiah heard the angels cry, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3). The name. In the Bible a name stands for the person. To hallow God's name is to honor God Himself: to trust Him, speak of Him with respect and live in a way that does not shame Him. Kingdom (6:10). Jesus preached, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). God's kingdom comes whenever someone turns to Jesus, for He has “conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13). It will come fully when Jesus returns. His will. “Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.” Praying this means handing God our plans. Jesus prayed the same way in the garden the night before the cross (Matthew 26:39, 42). God first. The first requests are about God: His name, His kingdom and His will. Then come our needs. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (6:33).

Jesus taught us to start with God. Before we ask for anything, we talk about Him. We call Him “Our Father in heaven.” He is our Father, so He is close and loving. He is in heaven, so He is great and strong. Next we pray that God's name will be kept holy. That means people will honor God as very special. Then we pray for His kingdom to come. We want God to rule in our hearts right now. One day Jesus will come back as King of everything. We also pray that God's will is done. That means we want what God wants most of all.

We can call God our Father. His name is holy. We ask Him to be King of everything.

Daily bread. “Give us this day our daily bread” (6:11). We ask for today's needs and trust God for tomorrow. God fed Israel with manna one day at a time (Exodus 16:4). Debts. “And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors” (6:12). Sin is like a debt we owe God and cannot pay. Paid in full. Jesus paid our debt on the cross. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Ephesians 1:7). Redemption means being bought back. As we forgive. People who know they are forgiven learn to forgive others. Temptation. “And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one” (6:13). God never tempts anyone to sin (James 1:13). We are asking Him to keep us away from sin's traps and to rescue us from the devil. A way out. “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Praise at the end. “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” (6:13). The prayer ends where it began, with God. Jesus explains. “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (6:14). Forgiving others does not earn God's forgiveness. It shows a heart that has received it. What we learn. We can bring every need to our Father, every day: food, forgiveness and help.

Daily (6:11). The Greek word translated daily is rare. It can mean bread for today or bread for the coming day. Either way, the prayer teaches daily trust, like Israel gathering manna each morning (Exodus 16:4). Bread for the soul. Jesus also said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). The Father who feeds our bodies feeds our souls through His Son. Opheilēmata (6:12). “Debts” is opheilēmata (say: oh-fay-LAY-mah-tah), what a person owes. Every sin leaves us owing God a debt we cannot repay. In 6:14-15 Jesus uses the word trespasses, which means stepping over a line. The debt canceled. God “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us… having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). 6:14-15. Jesus speaks plainly: “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” This does not mean we earn forgiveness by forgiving, because salvation is “not of works” (Ephesians 2:9). It means a heart that refuses to forgive is not living in God's mercy. Many Christians see these verses as being about a believer's daily walk with the Father: a grudge blocks our closeness with Him until we let it go. Peirasmos (6:13). Temptation translates peirasmos (say: pay-rahs-MOSS), which can mean a test or a temptation. God tests His people to make them strong, but He never tempts anyone to do evil (James 1:13). We pray to be kept from sin and rescued from “the evil one,” the devil who tempted Jesus in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11). The closing praise. “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” The prayer that began with God's name ends with God's glory.

Next Jesus taught us to ask for our daily needs. Daily bread means the food we need for today. God wants us to trust Him every day. Then we ask God to forgive our sins. Sin is like a debt we can never pay. Jesus paid that debt for us on the cross. We also forgive people who do wrong to us. Temptation is a pull toward doing wrong. We ask God to keep us away from it. We ask Him to save us from the Evil One, the devil. Jesus said forgiving others matters very much. People God has forgiven learn to forgive too.

We ask God for our food. We say sorry for wrong things. We forgive others too.