What to Pray For
Matthew 6:9-15
Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
Introduction: Is it right to ask from God when we pray? That’s real question for many people. On one hand some folk turn prayer into a Christmas wish list. They define prayer as nothing more than asking and wanting from God. But others tilt to the other extreme. To them asking makes prayer seem too greedy or maybe too personal. To some whatever asking takes place must be broad and general. After all, isn’t God too busy to be bothered with the likes of us?
In a secular minded world like ours, especially, asking in prayer can be a problem. The worldview that dominates many has convinced us that a wall of separation exists between God and the real world. The spiritual, the supernatural, anything involving a personal God only exists on the other side of the wall. On this side is real life. Like or not, we are taught, we must learn to get along on our own on this side.
Jesus taught us that God expects us to ask and pray. He commands it. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Matt. 7:7-11). Prayer is more than asking, but it is never less.
The Lord’s Prayer divides into two halves. The first concentrates on worship or acknowledge-ment of God—our Father—thy kingdom come, they will be done. The second half turns to petition. In three different petitions, Jesus teaches us how to pray for three spheres of our lives. In this second half of the Lord’s prayer, Jesus provides a check list for the kinds of concerns that revival seeking people pray about. We can do no better than to begin to pray in this same way, for these same things. We can be assured that this is what God desires because Jesus taught us to pray this way. Marty Lloyd Jones, the great British preacher and Bible expositor, notes in this study of the Sermon on the Mount, “Our whole life is found in those three petitions. And that is what makes this prayer so utterly amazing. In such a small comparison, our Lord has covered the whole of life of the believer in every respect.” (SM, II, 67-68).
The context of the prayer is important. Prior to providing the model for praying, Jesus said, “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matt. 6:5-8).
Prayer is not a performance for God’s benefit. It is not a magic formula like that of the pagans who thought that the right ritual could over-power the reluctance of heaven. Jesus said prayer is not even informing God of something he doesn’t already know. Rather prayer is all about our relationship with the Living God who already knows, already cares, already wants to provide, and already wants—more than we can understand—to have a personal intimate daily relationship with us like a Father to his children. It is little wonder that most genuine spiritual revival and awakenings have started with prayer. Every time God has shaken a city or turned a church into spiritual powerhouse, it began with prayer. It always starts with a small handful of people who truly want to know God more and who want more than anything for him to be known by others in the same powerful way they have come to know him.
Jesus teaches his disciples to pray for physical needs. The wording of the petition is telling: give us this day our daily bread. Bread is the staff of life. Every civilization builds its diet around some form of bread. We have it in abundance and in a variety of forms—from corn bread to sweet rolls. I will take whole wheat any day. Rose loves biscuits. Why, I will never understand. My father despised corn bread. He said that corn bread was all he ate as a child and he didn’t care if never saw another piece as long as he lived. We probably put less emphasis on bread than previous generations. Rose tells how her father always expected a plate of bread on the table for every meal. If her mother failed to have it ready, her Dad was sure to ask, with a smile, “Is the baker on strike?”
Bread is also a symbol for something more. Here it likely represents all of the physical and material needs of life. To ask for bread is to ask for the provision that makes life possible. For years Bible scholars weren’t sure what to make of the phrase, “our daily bread.” That precise wording appeared to be unique to the Lord’s Prayer. Years ago archaeologists found the wording inscribed on what appeared to be a shopping list. It became clear that “daily bread” just as the term sounds was simple, everyday expression for the day’s provision.
What are the lessons of this petition for our physical needs? First, God clearly cares about our physical needs. The Bible is very earthy in this regard. Some religious perversions speak as if God cares for our souls, but not our bodies. The flesh, as it is sometimes termed, is of no concern. Nothing could be further from the truth. The very incarnation of Jesus proves that God cares about our physical nature as well as our spiritual. Jesus’ miracles, so many of which were in the physical realm, provide further evidence of this.
Secondly, from this prayer we learn that God desires that we see him as our provider. Some of us prefer to pretend that we can take of ourselves. We don’t like to acknowledge how utterly dependent we are on God. This is a prayer of dependence. We cannot pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” without knowing where our bread comes from. This was the heart of Jesus warning later in the Sermon on the Mount when he taught, “24“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. 25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matt. 6:24-27).
Remember Jesus’ response to Satan’s appeal to turn the stones into bread, “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deut. 8:3). That was a statement about dependence on God and not on self.
I personally believe this petition of the Lord’s Prayer is an intentional reflection of Proverbs 30:7-9. Agur asks God for such enough to meet his needs, but not too much to make him independent of God. It is really a plea for contentment.
7 “Two things I ask of you, O LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:
8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
Jesus also teaches us to pray for emotional needs. This is a good heading under which to put the whole subject of forgiveness. John Stott in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount recounts a statement by the head of an English mental hospital. “I could dismiss half my patients tomorrow if they could be assured of forgiveness.” It is a fact that many of the health problems of life flow from stress and broken relationships. God’s cure for many a broken heart and shattered life is forgiveness.
This may well be the hardest lesson for many of us. Some of us have been taught that the measure of a person if vengeance not forgiveness. We don’t get mad; we get even. Clearly it isn’t easy—either giving or receiving. But Jesus said it is absolutely necessary. It is necessary for a right relationship with God. Only the forgiven can stand before a holy God. The self-justified or self-assured cannot. To approach God as if we did not need forgiveness would be like asking the Lord to clean us up while all of the time we are trying to hide decaying garbage in the closet. Even if he let us into heaven, the stench that we brought with us would ruin it for everyone. The Bible is clear—no one will enter heaven based on what they deserve, but based on God’s grace. The residents of heaven never get what they deserve, but something far far better—grace.
Now comes the hard part. If you get that, how can you not give it? If you understand the concept of grace, how can you not be a gracious person in return? To pray for forgiveness ought to predispose us to be forgiving people. Right? Being forgiving doesn’t earn forgiveness. But being forgiven ought to make us want to forgive. How could it be any other way? “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” is the Christian standard (Eph. 4:32). Jesus taught us to forgive as widely and broadly as we want to experience forgiveness. Peter asked him how many times to forgive, suggesting that maybe seven times might be a right number. Seven was far beyond what most of the experts taught. Jesus raised the ante and said “seventy times seven.” I think he was really saying that if you are still keeping track by that time, you don’t get it.
Who suffers if we don’t forgive? Make no mistake about it, we do. A quest for vengeance and a life filled with hate destroys the hater. Booker T. Washington once said, “I will not permit any man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.” An old Amos and Andy cartoon was on target when it portrayed Amos with several sticks of dynamite taped to his chest. He explains to Andy, “Boy and I going to get even with old King Fish. Just wait till he pokes me in the chest the next time.” There is always a high price for getting even.
I have heard Christian folk tell me they just couldn’t forgive. I don’t doubt it. On our own we can’t. That’s why prayer becomes so essential. If we want to experience to joy and peace that comes from the Spirit of God, and then we must cry out for God’s help to help us experience forgiveness in both directions. Jesus teaches us that if we think we can’t forgive, we probably haven’t really experienced forgiveness yet.
Third, Jesus prayer teaches us to pray for spiritual needs. This is the essence of that petition that says, “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” This petition forces us to our knees. It makes us admit how weak and vulnerable we really are without God’s help. Temptation carries a two-fold meaning in most of Scripture. It can refer to a testing or a moral enticement. The first can strengthen us; the second can destroy us. Either way we need God’s help. Those who think themselves strong enough to handle what ever comes are in for a big surprise. This petition is the cry of a heart that recognizes its own vulnerability.
We battle an enemy who knows are weak points. He knows that often it is when we think we are invincible that we are the biggest targets. He delights in taking us down at the very points we think we are the strongest. “When I am weak, then I am strong,” was the cry of Paul. That was the heart of man who knew he needed direction through the maze of temptation.
Temptation is inevitable. Sin is not. Weakness is certain. Failure need not be. But it will be for one who do not seek God’s direction. Remember Paul’s advice on the subject: No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it (1 Cor. 10:13NIV).
Conclusion: In three short statements, Jesus teaches us how to pray. We are to pray with total dependence on God as our provider (give us this day our daily bread), with hearts overflowing with grace (forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors), and with a deep sense of our own vulnerability (lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
It is worth noting again that each of these petitions is in the first person plural. Give us. Forgive us. Deliver us. We are not in this alone. We are together like it or not. That’s good. We not only need to learn to pray. We need to learn to pray for one another.
What to Pray For
Matthew 6:9-15
Introduction: Is it right to ask from God when we pray? That’s real question for many people. On one hand some folk turn prayer into a Christmas wish list. They define prayer as nothing more than asking and wanting from God. But others tilt to the other extreme. To them asking makes prayer seem too greedy or maybe too personal. To some whatever asking takes place must be broad and general. After all, isn’t God too busy to be bothered with the likes of us?
In a secular minded world like ours, especially, asking in prayer can be a problem. The worldview that dominates many has convinced us that a wall of separation exists between God and the real world. The spiritual, the supernatural, anything involving a personal God only exists on the other side of the wall. On this side is real life. Like or not, we are taught, we must learn to get along on our own on this side.
Jesus taught us that God expects us to ask and pray. He commands it. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Matt. 7:7-11). Prayer is more than asking, but it is never less.
The Lord’s Prayer divides into two halves. The first concentrates on worship or acknowledge-ment of God—our Father—thy kingdom come, they will be done. The second half turns to petition. In three different petitions, Jesus teaches us how to pray for three spheres of our lives. In this second half of the Lord’s prayer, Jesus provides a check list for the kinds of concerns that revival seeking people pray about. We can do no better than to begin to pray in this same way, for these same things. We can be assured that this is what God desires because Jesus taught us to pray this way. Marty Lloyd Jones, the great British preacher and Bible expositor, notes in this study of the Sermon on the Mount, “Our whole life is found in those three petitions. And that is what makes this prayer so utterly amazing. In such a small comparison, our Lord has covered the whole of life of the believer in every respect.” (SM, II, 67-68).
The context of the prayer is important. Prior to providing the model for praying, Jesus said, “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matt. 6:5-8).
Prayer is not a performance for God’s benefit. It is not a magic formula like that of the pagans who thought that the right ritual could over-power the reluctance of heaven. Jesus said prayer is not even informing God of something he doesn’t already know. Rather prayer is all about our relationship with the Living God who already knows, already cares, already wants to provide, and already wants—more than we can understand—to have a personal intimate daily relationship with us like a Father to his children. It is little wonder that most genuine spiritual revival and awakenings have started with prayer. Every time God has shaken a city or turned a church into spiritual powerhouse, it began with prayer. It always starts with a small handful of people who truly want to know God more and who want more than anything for him to be known by others in the same powerful way they have come to know him.
Jesus teaches his disciples to pray for physical needs. The wording of the petition is telling: give us this day our daily bread. Bread is the staff of life. Every civilization builds its diet around some form of bread. We have it in abundance and in a variety of forms—from corn bread to sweet rolls. I will take whole wheat any day. Rose loves biscuits. Why, I will never understand. My father despised corn bread. He said that corn bread was all he ate as a child and he didn’t care if never saw another piece as long as he lived. We probably put less emphasis on bread than previous generations. Rose tells how her father always expected a plate of bread on the table for every meal. If her mother failed to have it ready, her Dad was sure to ask, with a smile, “Is the baker on strike?”
Bread is also a symbol for something more. Here it likely represents all of the physical and material needs of life. To ask for bread is to ask for the provision that makes life possible. For years Bible scholars weren’t sure what to make of the phrase, “our daily bread.” That precise wording appeared to be unique to the Lord’s Prayer. Years ago archaeologists found the wording inscribed on what appeared to be a shopping list. It became clear that “daily bread” just as the term sounds was simple, everyday expression for the day’s provision.
What are the lessons of this petition for our physical needs? First, God clearly cares about our physical needs. The Bible is very earthy in this regard. Some religious perversions speak as if God cares for our souls, but not our bodies. The flesh, as it is sometimes termed, is of no concern. Nothing could be further from the truth. The very incarnation of Jesus proves that God cares about our physical nature as well as our spiritual. Jesus’ miracles, so many of which were in the physical realm, provide further evidence of this.
Secondly, from this prayer we learn that God desires that we see him as our provider. Some of us prefer to pretend that we can take of ourselves. We don’t like to acknowledge how utterly dependent we are on God. This is a prayer of dependence. We cannot pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” without knowing where our bread comes from. This was the heart of Jesus warning later in the Sermon on the Mount when he taught, “24“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. 25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matt. 6:24-27).
Remember Jesus’ response to Satan’s appeal to turn the stones into bread, “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deut. 8:3). That was a statement about dependence on God and not on self.
I personally believe this petition of the Lord’s Prayer is an intentional reflection of Proverbs 30:7-9. Agur asks God for such enough to meet his needs, but not too much to make him independent of God. It is really a plea for contentment.
7 “Two things I ask of you, O LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:
8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
Jesus also teaches us to pray for emotional needs. This is a good heading under which to put the whole subject of forgiveness. John Stott in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount recounts a statement by the head of an English mental hospital. “I could dismiss half my patients tomorrow if they could be assured of forgiveness.” It is a fact that many of the health problems of life flow from stress and broken relationships. God’s cure for many a broken heart and shattered life is forgiveness.
This may well be the hardest lesson for many of us. Some of us have been taught that the measure of a person if vengeance not forgiveness. We don’t get mad; we get even. Clearly it isn’t easy—either giving or receiving. But Jesus said it is absolutely necessary. It is necessary for a right relationship with God. Only the forgiven can stand before a holy God. The self-justified or self-assured cannot. To approach God as if we did not need forgiveness would be like asking the Lord to clean us up while all of the time we are trying to hide decaying garbage in the closet. Even if he let us into heaven, the stench that we brought with us would ruin it for everyone. The Bible is clear—no one will enter heaven based on what they deserve, but based on God’s grace. The residents of heaven never get what they deserve, but something far far better—grace.
Now comes the hard part. If you get that, how can you not give it? If you understand the concept of grace, how can you not be a gracious person in return? To pray for forgiveness ought to predispose us to be forgiving people. Right? Being forgiving doesn’t earn forgiveness. But being forgiven ought to make us want to forgive. How could it be any other way? “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” is the Christian standard (Eph. 4:32). Jesus taught us to forgive as widely and broadly as we want to experience forgiveness. Peter asked him how many times to forgive, suggesting that maybe seven times might be a right number. Seven was far beyond what most of the experts taught. Jesus raised the ante and said “seventy times seven.” I think he was really saying that if you are still keeping track by that time, you don’t get it.
Who suffers if we don’t forgive? Make no mistake about it, we do. A quest for vengeance and a life filled with hate destroys the hater. Booker T. Washington once said, “I will not permit any man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.” An old Amos and Andy cartoon was on target when it portrayed Amos with several sticks of dynamite taped to his chest. He explains to Andy, “Boy and I going to get even with old King Fish. Just wait till he pokes me in the chest the next time.” There is always a high price for getting even.
I have heard Christian folk tell me they just couldn’t forgive. I don’t doubt it. On our own we can’t. That’s why prayer becomes so essential. If we want to experience to joy and peace that comes from the Spirit of God, and then we must cry out for God’s help to help us experience forgiveness in both directions. Jesus teaches us that if we think we can’t forgive, we probably haven’t really experienced forgiveness yet.
Third, Jesus prayer teaches us to pray for spiritual needs. This is the essence of that petition that says, “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” This petition forces us to our knees. It makes us admit how weak and vulnerable we really are without God’s help. Temptation carries a two-fold meaning in most of Scripture. It can refer to a testing or a moral enticement. The first can strengthen us; the second can destroy us. Either way we need God’s help. Those who think themselves strong enough to handle what ever comes are in for a big surprise. This petition is the cry of a heart that recognizes its own vulnerability.
We battle an enemy who knows are weak points. He knows that often it is when we think we are invincible that we are the biggest targets. He delights in taking us down at the very points we think we are the strongest. “When I am weak, then I am strong,” was the cry of Paul. That was the heart of man who knew he needed direction through the maze of temptation.
Temptation is inevitable. Sin is not. Weakness is certain. Failure need not be. But it will be for one who do not seek God’s direction. Remember Paul’s advice on the subject: No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it (1 Cor. 10:13NIV).
Conclusion: In three short statements, Jesus teaches us how to pray. We are to pray with total dependence on God as our provider (give us this day our daily bread), with hearts overflowing with grace (forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors), and with a deep sense of our own vulnerability (lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
It is worth noting again that each of these petitions is in the first person plural. Give us. Forgive us. Deliver us. We are not in this alone. We are together like it or not. That’s good. We not only need to learn to pray. We need to learn to pray for one another.
What to Pray For
Matthew 6:9-15
Introduction: Is it right to ask from God when we pray? That’s real question for many people. On one hand some folk turn prayer into a Christmas wish list. They define prayer as nothing more than asking and wanting from God. But others tilt to the other extreme. To them asking makes prayer seem too greedy or maybe too personal. To some whatever asking takes place must be broad and general. After all, isn’t God too busy to be bothered with the likes of us?
In a secular minded world like ours, especially, asking in prayer can be a problem. The worldview that dominates many has convinced us that a wall of separation exists between God and the real world. The spiritual, the supernatural, anything involving a personal God only exists on the other side of the wall. On this side is real life. Like or not, we are taught, we must learn to get along on our own on this side.
Jesus taught us that God expects us to ask and pray. He commands it. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Matt. 7:7-11). Prayer is more than asking, but it is never less.
The Lord’s Prayer divides into two halves. The first concentrates on worship or acknowledge-ment of God—our Father—thy kingdom come, they will be done. The second half turns to petition. In three different petitions, Jesus teaches us how to pray for three spheres of our lives. In this second half of the Lord’s prayer, Jesus provides a check list for the kinds of concerns that revival seeking people pray about. We can do no better than to begin to pray in this same way, for these same things. We can be assured that this is what God desires because Jesus taught us to pray this way. Marty Lloyd Jones, the great British preacher and Bible expositor, notes in this study of the Sermon on the Mount, “Our whole life is found in those three petitions. And that is what makes this prayer so utterly amazing. In such a small comparison, our Lord has covered the whole of life of the believer in every respect.” (SM, II, 67-68).
The context of the prayer is important. Prior to providing the model for praying, Jesus said, “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matt. 6:5-8).
Prayer is not a performance for God’s benefit. It is not a magic formula like that of the pagans who thought that the right ritual could over-power the reluctance of heaven. Jesus said prayer is not even informing God of something he doesn’t already know. Rather prayer is all about our relationship with the Living God who already knows, already cares, already wants to provide, and already wants—more than we can understand—to have a personal intimate daily relationship with us like a Father to his children. It is little wonder that most genuine spiritual revival and awakenings have started with prayer. Every time God has shaken a city or turned a church into spiritual powerhouse, it began with prayer. It always starts with a small handful of people who truly want to know God more and who want more than anything for him to be known by others in the same powerful way they have come to know him.
Jesus teaches his disciples to pray for physical needs. The wording of the petition is telling: give us this day our daily bread. Bread is the staff of life. Every civilization builds its diet around some form of bread. We have it in abundance and in a variety of forms—from corn bread to sweet rolls. I will take whole wheat any day. Rose loves biscuits. Why, I will never understand. My father despised corn bread. He said that corn bread was all he ate as a child and he didn’t care if never saw another piece as long as he lived. We probably put less emphasis on bread than previous generations. Rose tells how her father always expected a plate of bread on the table for every meal. If her mother failed to have it ready, her Dad was sure to ask, with a smile, “Is the baker on strike?”
Bread is also a symbol for something more. Here it likely represents all of the physical and material needs of life. To ask for bread is to ask for the provision that makes life possible. For years Bible scholars weren’t sure what to make of the phrase, “our daily bread.” That precise wording appeared to be unique to the Lord’s Prayer. Years ago archaeologists found the wording inscribed on what appeared to be a shopping list. It became clear that “daily bread” just as the term sounds was simple, everyday expression for the day’s provision.
What are the lessons of this petition for our physical needs? First, God clearly cares about our physical needs. The Bible is very earthy in this regard. Some religious perversions speak as if God cares for our souls, but not our bodies. The flesh, as it is sometimes termed, is of no concern. Nothing could be further from the truth. The very incarnation of Jesus proves that God cares about our physical nature as well as our spiritual. Jesus’ miracles, so many of which were in the physical realm, provide further evidence of this.
Secondly, from this prayer we learn that God desires that we see him as our provider. Some of us prefer to pretend that we can take of ourselves. We don’t like to acknowledge how utterly dependent we are on God. This is a prayer of dependence. We cannot pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” without knowing where our bread comes from. This was the heart of Jesus warning later in the Sermon on the Mount when he taught, “24“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. 25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matt. 6:24-27).
Remember Jesus’ response to Satan’s appeal to turn the stones into bread, “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deut. 8:3). That was a statement about dependence on God and not on self.
I personally believe this petition of the Lord’s Prayer is an intentional reflection of Proverbs 30:7-9. Agur asks God for such enough to meet his needs, but not too much to make him independent of God. It is really a plea for contentment.
7 “Two things I ask of you, O LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:
8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
Jesus also teaches us to pray for emotional needs. This is a good heading under which to put the whole subject of forgiveness. John Stott in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount recounts a statement by the head of an English mental hospital. “I could dismiss half my patients tomorrow if they could be assured of forgiveness.” It is a fact that many of the health problems of life flow from stress and broken relationships. God’s cure for many a broken heart and shattered life is forgiveness.
This may well be the hardest lesson for many of us. Some of us have been taught that the measure of a person if vengeance not forgiveness. We don’t get mad; we get even. Clearly it isn’t easy—either giving or receiving. But Jesus said it is absolutely necessary. It is necessary for a right relationship with God. Only the forgiven can stand before a holy God. The self-justified or self-assured cannot. To approach God as if we did not need forgiveness would be like asking the Lord to clean us up while all of the time we are trying to hide decaying garbage in the closet. Even if he let us into heaven, the stench that we brought with us would ruin it for everyone. The Bible is clear—no one will enter heaven based on what they deserve, but based on God’s grace. The residents of heaven never get what they deserve, but something far far better—grace.
Now comes the hard part. If you get that, how can you not give it? If you understand the concept of grace, how can you not be a gracious person in return? To pray for forgiveness ought to predispose us to be forgiving people. Right? Being forgiving doesn’t earn forgiveness. But being forgiven ought to make us want to forgive. How could it be any other way? “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” is the Christian standard (Eph. 4:32). Jesus taught us to forgive as widely and broadly as we want to experience forgiveness. Peter asked him how many times to forgive, suggesting that maybe seven times might be a right number. Seven was far beyond what most of the experts taught. Jesus raised the ante and said “seventy times seven.” I think he was really saying that if you are still keeping track by that time, you don’t get it.
Who suffers if we don’t forgive? Make no mistake about it, we do. A quest for vengeance and a life filled with hate destroys the hater. Booker T. Washington once said, “I will not permit any man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.” An old Amos and Andy cartoon was on target when it portrayed Amos with several sticks of dynamite taped to his chest. He explains to Andy, “Boy and I going to get even with old King Fish. Just wait till he pokes me in the chest the next time.” There is always a high price for getting even.
I have heard Christian folk tell me they just couldn’t forgive. I don’t doubt it. On our own we can’t. That’s why prayer becomes so essential. If we want to experience to joy and peace that comes from the Spirit of God, and then we must cry out for God’s help to help us experience forgiveness in both directions. Jesus teaches us that if we think we can’t forgive, we probably haven’t really experienced forgiveness yet.
Third, Jesus prayer teaches us to pray for spiritual needs. This is the essence of that petition that says, “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” This petition forces us to our knees. It makes us admit how weak and vulnerable we really are without God’s help. Temptation carries a two-fold meaning in most of Scripture. It can refer to a testing or a moral enticement. The first can strengthen us; the second can destroy us. Either way we need God’s help. Those who think themselves strong enough to handle what ever comes are in for a big surprise. This petition is the cry of a heart that recognizes its own vulnerability.
We battle an enemy who knows are weak points. He knows that often it is when we think we are invincible that we are the biggest targets. He delights in taking us down at the very points we think we are the strongest. “When I am weak, then I am strong,” was the cry of Paul. That was the heart of man who knew he needed direction through the maze of temptation.
Temptation is inevitable. Sin is not. Weakness is certain. Failure need not be. But it will be for one who do not seek God’s direction. Remember Paul’s advice on the subject: No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it (1 Cor. 10:13NIV).
Conclusion: In three short statements, Jesus teaches us how to pray. We are to pray with total dependence on God as our provider (give us this day our daily bread), with hearts overflowing with grace (forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors), and with a deep sense of our own vulnerability (lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
It is worth noting again that each of these petitions is in the first person plural. Give us. Forgive us. Deliver us. We are not in this alone. We are together like it or not. That’s good. We not only need to learn to pray. We need to learn to pray for one another.
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
