Jesus' Sermon on the Mount 4

The Lord's Prayer(6:9-13)

The Lord's Prayer is Jesus' model of a perfect prayer. Many of us pray this prayer in church every Sunday but seldom stop an think about what it really means.

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. We know that God is the master of all the universe. He is holy and all-powerful. But, like a father, He also loves and protects us. We wish for all people to honor God and His holy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. God's spiritual kingdom is within the hearts and minds of those people who put their faith and trust in God and obey His commands (Matthew 3:2, Luke 17:20-21) We pray for more and more people to trust and obey God and become part of His kingdom (Mark 4:30-32).

Give us this day our daily bread. We know that everything we have is a gift from God. We ask God to give us the food and other things we need for daily life.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. In a way, our sins are like "debts" owed to God. We ask God to forgive us for doing things that are wrong and for failing to the good things we should. We know that we must also forgive other people who have done wrong to us. We cannot expect God to forgive our sins while we are holding a grudge or seeking revenge against another person (Matthew 6:14-15, 18:23-35).

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Every day we are tempted to commit sins such as greed, immorality, hatred, revenge, theft and gossip (Matthew 15:19-20, Luke 12:15, Galatians 5:19-21). We pray for the strength to resist these temptations of daily life (James 1:12-16). We ask God to protect us from Satan's power to fool us into thinking wrong is actually right (Genesis 3:4-5, 1 Corinthians 10:13,2 Corinthians 11:3, 11:13-15).

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. This doxology, or brief hymn of praise, was not part of Jesus' original prayer. It comes from 1 Chronicles 29:11 and was probably added for use in public worship.

Amen. This word from Hebrew means "truly." It is often added at the end of prayers to mean, "Let it be so!"