Matthew 6:9-13 The Lord's Prayer
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

By Marni Montanez

Matthew 6:9-13

Amplified Bible (AMP)

9 Pray, therefore, like this: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed (kept holy) be Your name.

10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven (left, remitted, and let go of the debts, and have given up resentment against) our debtors.

13 And lead (bring) us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
 
Jesus taught His followers this specific prayer.  Why? Why did He choose this prayer?

Why would this certain outline be so important for Jesus to use?
 
In all we do and say we must keep God’s name holy. Holy means to be set apart. His name is set apart from any name and to be revered.  

This name that is above all names is our family name.   If we don’t see God’s name as holy then we don’t have the reverence we need  to remain humble in His sight.  In the old testament the Jewish people revered God's name and considered it as holy and knew they were not worthy enough to even speak it   They would say a form of it and when they were writing His name they wrote YHWH without the vowels.

We live in a society where there is an entitlement spirit which seems to hover over America.  It is a spirit of pride that deceives us into believing that we deserve the best and that we are the most important. This lie is what keeps us out of God’s will. In this prayer Jesus is very specific to not only include this truth but also to make it the first line in this prayer.  It is crucial that we see God's name as Holy and that it is about Him.  
 
When we lift up God’s name as holy we step further into intimate knowledge of who He is.  

In this name; the name of Jesus we have the authority and power to call the manifestation of His Kingdom to the earth.  It is a privilege to be allowed such a great honor.   

When we pray for God’s will and God’s Kingdom to come to earth as it is in heaven, we are calling down the wisdom, compassion, and peace that dwells in heaven. We are asking God to make happen on earth what happens in heaven. We are saying that we agree with His ways and His perfect will.  
 
In this verse bread can be considered physical food because God does supply us with food for our bodies, but it could also refer to spiritual bread or food.  God cares about both.   Spiritually…..bread is the food we need to live day to day.   When the Israelites were in the desert, led by Moses, God rained Manna from heaven.  This has been referred to as angel’s food.  This manna fed the people and was satisfying to their body.  Spiritually, God’s word satisfies our spirit and soul. This is how we get our spiritual sustenance, which strengthens us.  
 
The only way to heaven is through God’s forgiveness.  He gave His forgiveness at the cross and we need to go to the cross to take hold of it.   God’s forgiveness is grace that extends to us even though we are undeserving. It opens our heart to see the power in forgiveness as it sets us free.   But God’s power does not stop there; it moves through our hearts and sets free another person if we are willing to be that vessel of forgiveness.  Forgiveness is a simple way of saying “I am not giving up my freedom and power by harboring any ill feelings that only manifest within and imprison me.  
 
And lead us not into temptation:
in Hebrew the meaning of temptation is testing.  Obviously our fleshly or carnal nature needs to be tested since it is what struggles against our spirit-man.   This is a hard process that no one wants to go through.  In the English version temptation refers to a desire to do something, esp. something wrong or unwise. This always leads us to being disciplined by our Heavenly Father.  Either meaning of temptation is something to avoid.  What a truly spiritually focused person wants is to obey and grow and become all that God designed us to be.   

It is a cry from our hearts to ask God to deliver us from evil.  Our spirit man longs to be absent of any evil and desires good.  This is God’s heart and this is what He wants for us; to be devoid of any evil and only filled with His goodness.
 
Challenge:  Pray this prayer every day and meditate on it’s meaning.
 
God Bless
Marni

Go on to: Matthew 6:15
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The purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.