The Gospel of the Kingdom - Matthew - Praying - Part 5

 

Text: Matthew 6:9a – In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

So, today we continue our brief study on the 9 aspects of prayer as given by Jesus to His Disciples. We looked at the first three yesterday – faith, worship, and expectation, and today we will see the next three – Submission, petition, and confession.

 Submission – (6:10b) “Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.” When Jesu is speaking about God’s will here, he is speaking about God’s desire or pleasure. This is the desire of God for all Creation, for mankind, for you personally. He has a desire or pleasure for you and me. One thing to understand, when they translate from one language to another, sometimes words have to be added to help make the reading clear. It is not in the original Greek they were added to help us read the concept. This states in the Greek – “On earth as in Heaven.” In other words, In Heaven, God’s desire and pleasure are constantly in existence. We are now submitting ourselves to His desire and pleasure in our lives. It is a commitment we are making to God.  

Jesu follows this submission with petition – (6:11) “Give us this day our daily bread.” The idea behind the word used here forgive is to deliver, provide. In Jesus’ day, the use of the term bread could mean food of any kind. God give us our sustenance. You might say, well I have to work to buy my food – yes, but it is God who provides your job, energy, ability, etc. The important part of this aspect is one of trust. Notice, we are not to pray for our whole year’s food. We aren’t to pray for next month – we are to pray for our daily supply. That means we are trusting God from day to day. We need to pray daily for those needs that we have, and trust Him to supply.

Finally today, in these three parts, Jesus takes us to confession – (6:12a) “And forgive us our debts.” Forgive in the Greek here means to let go, to remit, to keep no longer them. The use of the word debts here from the Greek means that which is justly or legally due, sin, and offenses. Yes, when I received Christ, He paid for all my sins. However, God wants us to confess (agree with) Him on a daily and regular basis for those acts we commit. Why? I believe that this will cause us to be aware of what we are doing, and seek to grow in the grace of God. God reminds us in 1 John1:9 to do this, so we realize what we have received from Him, and we seek to be like Him.

Tomorrow, in the final three aspects of prayer, Jesus ties our confession with a point we often overlook – Compassion.