Over the course of the past 10 weeks, we have been taking a close look at each part of Jesus’ perfect prayer; and you have been encouraged to pray this prayer daily, focusing in and meditating on a different line each week. I think it is worthwhile, however, to take a global look at the prayer, especially the order of each part. Please note that all Bible texts, unless otherwise indicated are from Matthew 6, NASB.
The prayer starts off with us acknowledging God as our daddy, one who knows all, is everywhere and can do everything; but most importantly, a daddy who loves us perfectly: “Our Father, who is in heaven…” (Vs. 9a).
In order for us to not get too familiar with God, the next line points to His holiness: “Hallowed be Your name.” (Vs. 9b). We must honour His holiness in our words and actions and thoughts.
Next we ask God to reveal principles of His kingdom, and to begin working them into our hearts, lives and spirits: “Your kingdom come.” (Vs. 10a).
We then acknowledge that God’s will is perfect: “Your will be done…” (Vs. 10b). we come to understand that it is His will to reflect Him to others, to give thanks in everything, and to be healed – mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally – and we ask for His will to be done in our lives as it is in Heaven: “…On earth as it is in heaven.” (Vs. 10c).
Only after acknowledging who God is, after desiring to live out kingdom principles in our lives and to live within His perfect will, do we get to the part where we ask Him for things: “Give us this day our daily bread.” (Vs. 11). With this line, however, we are encouraged to remember that God is our source of everything we need, and this goes way beyond our physical needs of food or jobs or healing. Everything also includes our spiritual needs – joy, faith, love, compassion, wisdom, discernment, energy, knowledge, ability, etc., to name a few. Whatever we need … God IS! Our job is to acknowledge our need, to remember that He fills ALL our needs, and to trust Him to do just that.
After this one line that looks at our physical, emotional and spiritual needs, the prayer digs deeper into what Jesus obviously sees are our greater needs: Spiritual cleansing. Starting off with the big one, “And forgive us our debts…” (Vs. 12a). Here we remember that in order to wash the dirt of sin from our lives, we need to forgive, to confess and renounce our sin, and to repent of it.
And then Jesus digs even deeper into our spiritual needs: “…as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Vs. 12b). Here we acknowledge our need to treat others as we have been treated by Jesus, our need to release our anger and let God bring justice to those who have hurt us, our need to confess our own sin of unforgiveness.
When we confess our sins and forgive others, we are showing humility and dependency upon God, two things that are necessary for the next two vital parts of Jesus’ prayer, the first of which is: “And do not lead us into temptation…” (Vs. 13a). Here we acknowledge that it is God who leads us towards righteousness. This is also our chance to ask God to make us hate sin as much as He does, to give us the volition to avoid sin and to guide us, “in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.” (Ps. 23:3b NASB).
But avoiding sin isn’t our biggest need. We need to be delivered from the flesh that continues to hang on to us after we are saved; and thus, Jesus includes in this perfect prayer: “…but deliver us from evil.” (Vs. 13b). This is also where we put our trust in God to keep us safe, physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally.
And then the lines that aren’t include in most English translations: “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Vs. 13c NKJV). Although not recognized as an official part of Jesus’ perfect prayer, it helps us to remember that it is God who reveals His kingdom, it is His power that we need, and all glory goes to Him. This one line does so much to keep us humble!
So how does this perfect prayer look when we work it into our own lives?
Here is an example:
My dearest Daddy, the One who knows everything, is everywhere, is all powerful, and who loves me perfectly, my Heavenly Daddy, please help me today that my life will honour the holiness of Your name!
Daddy, You have been revealing ____ to me, a new part of the principles of Your Kingdom. I want this to be reflected in me today! I want more than anything for Your will to be done in my life. I want to glorify Your name in everything, and since Your will is also that I be healed, Daddy, bring it on, just as You do in Heaven!
Daddy, I acknowledge that I have a lot of needs. Mostly I don’t recognize them, please help me to see my true needs and to turn to You to fill them. Daddy, today I especially need _________ . May I not look to any other source, because You are everything I need!
Daddy, I know You have saved me and washed my sin away, but I still have some flesh hanging on. I get angry and impatient (or _________). Daddy, I confess these as sins, and since I know that sin separates me from You (see Is. 59:1), I renounce it and I repent! Please, Daddy, help me to know what sins I still have in my life. Help me to hate them, to want to confess them, and give me the ability to renounce them and repent.
And Daddy, You know I’m pretty angry at ________. But I release _______ to You. Please help me to forgive! And if there is anyone else I need to forgive, please help me to recognize it, to hate unforgiveness and see it as a sin, help me to desire to forgive, and then give me the power to do so!
Daddy, I want more than anything to walk in the paths of righteousness. Only You can help me do that. May I recognize the temptations that would keep me from Your righteousness. May I despise anything that separates us, may I allow You to lead me away from the devil’s traps and towards Your righteousness.
But I still have this flesh hanging on, Daddy. It is good that I confessed my __________ , but I need You to deliver me from this so that I don’t keep falling back into its nasty claws. Deliver me from this and from all harm. I put my trust in You and You alone.
And Daddy, one last thing. I wish to acknowledge that the Kingdom is Yours, and it is You who decides what Kingdom principles You wish to work in my heart every day. I thank You for this. I also wish to acknowledge that these principles will never be worked in my heart if I lean on my own strength. All power I need comes from You and You alone. And Daddy, when I succeed, I’m going to be tempted to take at least a tiny bit of the glory for myself… Don’t let me do this. All of the glory is … Yours!
Thank You, Daddy! This will be a wonderful day because I am putting You in charge of my life today! In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.
I encourage each one of you to keep praying through the Lord’s perfect prayer every day. As you say each familiar line, think about what it really means and pray it from your heart. I would love to hear your testimonies of how this is starting to change your lives. I know it will, because this perfect prayer changes my life daily. Please email me your testimonies!
If any of you have missed parts of this series, you can find the entire series by clicking here. If you have problems with this, email me and I’ll send them to you. God bless you all as you draw closer and closer to Him through this powerful prayer!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
(To access the entire published portion of “The Perfect Prayer” mini-series, please click here!)