I recently wrapped up a sermon series on the Lord's Prayer. As I've reflected on this prayer that Jesus taught (with quite a lot of help from a book by C. Clifton Black), I've come to the conclusion that the Lord's Prayer as a whole is about desiring God Himself.
(Our Father in heaven) We begin by reminding ourselves that God is our loving Father who knows what we need.
(Hallowed be your name.) Next we pray for ourselves and all people to know and praise God for His glory, His power, His holiness, His mercy, and all His other wonderful traits, as well as His great and compassionate deeds.
(Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it in heaven) Then we pray for God to end all opposition to Himself in our world and our lives. We ask God to fully establish His reign over all the earth, making all things the way He wants them to be, which is the way they should be. We also ask that we and all people will live in obedience to God, recognizing that He knows what is good and right for us to do. God alone deserves to be our King and our Lord.
(Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.) In the second half of the prayer, we pray for God to remove anything that might keep us from Him. We pray for God to meet our everyday needs to keep us from doubting His goodness and power. We pray for forgiveness because our sins separate us from God, and we could never make ourselves right with God. We pray for God to protect us from trials and the power of the devil so that we won't be tempted to turn away from God to false gods. Basically we pray that God will clearly show His love and power in our lives, teaching us to rely on Him for everything we need.
(For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.) At the end of our prayer we focus on God once again, reminding ourselves that He never changes or fails, that His purposes will prevail for His glory and for the good of His people and His world.
I think the Lord's Prayer teaches us above all that we need God and that God is willing and able to provide us with all that we need. In prayer (whether we pray the Lord's Prayer or use other words), we seek God because God can always help us and shape us into who we should be. In the book of Luke, after Jesus teaches His followers the Lord's Prayer and gives a few other thoughts and instructions about prayer, He says, "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (11:13). God is every Christian's Father because Jesus makes us right with God through His death and resurrection. Jesus unites us with Himself, and His return to heaven assures us that God listens to our prayers. So when Christians pray, we can be sure that we will find the God we seek. God gives us His Holy Spirit. In that sense our prayers never go unanswered. We may ask not receive every specific thing we ask for (especially since we often don't know what to pray for or ask for things that aren't ultimately good for us), but we always get God Himself. God the Holy Spirit is with us, and God is always more than enough for us.
Grace and peace,
BMH
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