Summary of Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done”.

Prayer moves from general (Matt. 6:9-10); i.e. “Our Father”, to specifics (Matt. 6:11-13); i.e. “Give us”

Praying “Thy will be done”, not “according to your will”…what is God’s will that we should be praying for?

Matt. 6:11-13 –

  1. Bread 
  2. Riddance of sin
  3. Deliverance from Satan

(these are especially prayed for the Body, but also apply to non-believers (like Gal. 6:10))

Matt. 6:11: “GIVE US…”

  • This second section of the Lord’s prayer begins with “Give us”.
  • “Give us”, this is a statement that is very bold, but the Lord wants nothing less.
    • The reason many of us do not approach God with such boldness as to say “give us” (more commonly we’ll pray something like, “please, oh please, if there’s any way can you grant us”), is that we are unsure of exactly what God has promised to give us.  Only in knowing God’s true will can we start approaching our prayers with the boldness of words such as, “give us”, for this is exactly how He wants us to pray to Him (as seen in the Lord’s Prayer).

1.  Bread

Matt. 6:11: “Give us this day our daily bread”

  • Bread…
    • “Daily bread” is similar to daily manna given to the Israelites (Ex. 16:4, 16-20)
      • Ex. 16:16-18 – each man gathers only as much as he needs
      • Ex. 16:19-20 – it is dangerous and wrong to take too much bread, or not use the bread you have
    • The bread He is referring to is, at its core, is physical bread, but we also believe it extends to all of our needs (not wants) – doesn’t Jesus preach that God will fulfill our needs, as seen at the end of Matthew 6? (see Matt. 6:25; Phil. 4:19) 
    • Bread is not just survival (otherwise water would’ve seemed to be more suitable), it is strengthening and nourishing (“we are more than conquerors”, not just conquerors)
    • Father longs to share His bread (Matt. 7:9; Luke 15:17; John 6:5)
    • [Bread is also symbolic of Word of God (Matt. 4:4), and healing (Matt. 15:26-28), and ultimately Jesus (Matt. 26:26; John 6:33,35), specifically his flesh given for life of the world (John 6:51)]
    • Acts 2:42,46
  • Repetition: “Give us this DAY our DAILY bread”
    • Utter dependence on God (John 15:5)…why the words “DAY our DAILY”, isn’t this redundant? – it shows we must be utterly dependant on God everyday.
    • Proverbs 30:7-9 – in America, perhaps our prayers for bread should be to not give us too much, or we will stop calling on the Lord
  • If we do not have bread (physical and spiritual), we cannot accomplish God’s will on earth (yet Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy, especially those devoted to God’s will)…this is why we must pray for us (individually and the Church as a whole) to have bread – to have needs met – so God’s work can continue mightily on earth.

2.  Riddance of Sin

Matt. 6:12: “And forgive us our debts”

  • Deals with sins already committed.
  • 1 John 1:8-10
  • Repentance is always first in God’s moving (Mark 1:3,4,15; Luke 24:47; Acts 2:38; 20:21; Hebrews 6:1)
  • Daniel 9:20 – repent personally, and on behalf of Body
  • Matthew 18:15-20 – repentance is first responsibility of church and prayer is second
  • Isaiah 59:1-3; Psalm 66:17-18 – God will not hear our prayers if we do not confess our sins

Matt. 6:12: “As we forgive our debtors.”

  • Deals with present actions towards sins committed.
  • Only part of Lord’s prayer where we talk about ourselves
    • Must be true of all who are praying the Lord’s prayer
    • It is the one thing assumed if we are praying to Our Father
  • Matt. 6:13-14 – God’s forgiveness is dependent on our forgiveness of others
  • Mark 11:22-26 – forgiving others must come before prayer
  • Matt. 18:23-35 – Jesus takes forgiving others so seriously, because He knows his forgiveness towards us is much less deserved than any forgiveness we can give out to brothers/sisters who have wronged us
  • Luke 17:3-4; Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13
  • Examples (Luke 23:34; Acts 7:60)

Matt. 6:13: “And do not lead us into temptation”

  • Deals with future possibilities of committing sin.
  • First is forgiveness for past, then provisions for future
  • At heart of God’s prayer is the issue of sin
    • It is because of sin that He lost communion with His people and it is because of sin that He bled on the cross 
    • Ezekiel 8:18 – 9:1-11 – the only people God spared were those who grieved over the sins committed around them

3.  Deliverance from Satan

Matt. 6:13: “But deliver us from the evil one.”

  • Eph. 6:12 – we don’t fight flesh and blood
  • Lev. 26:7,8; Deut. 32:30 – we have unthinkable power over our enemies
  • Col. 2:14,15 (disarming leads to disgrace); Matt. 28:18; Eph. 1:20-22 – Another kingdom has invaded Satan’s territory (Matt. 12:28)
    • Illustration of principle seen above: Acts 12 – Another kingdom invaded Herod’s authority, Peter escapes prison
    • We have “extraterritoriality” 
    • If man occupies your house without your authority, what do you do?
    • Luke 18:3 – “Give me legal protection from my opponent”
  • Eph. 6:17-20 – Word and prayer are companion weapons against Satan
  • “Ask in my name” – John 14:13,14; 15:16; 16:22-26
    • Asking in Jesus’ name is effective towards God (John 14:13,14; 15:16; 16:23)
  • Example – Peter (Acts 3:6)
  • Asking in Jesus’ name is mighty against Satan (Mark 16:17-18; Luke 10:17-19)
  • Examples (Acts 16:18; 19:13,15)
  • Acts 19:15 – do evil powers recognize you?
  • When will God freely commit His name for you to use?
    1. Revelation of God’s eternal purpose (Eph. 1:9-12; 4:11-16)
    2. Work is conceived by God (John 5:19; Acts 16:6,7; Gen. 1:1)
    3. Work continues upon power of God alone (John 15:5)
    4. Work glorifies God (Eph. 1:6,12,14; see also last week’s Bible study on praying, “Hallowed be Thy Name”)
  • 2 Kings 2:1-15 (specifically 2:14) – Where is the God of Elijah?
    • Elijah is symbolic of Jesus, and Elisha is symbolic of Christians
      • Elisha laid claim in personal experience to miracle Elijah (his lord now glorified) performed.
      • Elisha took his stand by faith on the ground of a finished work