The Lord's Prayer
by Rev. Dr. Frank Uhlir
"Pray therefore in this manner: Our Father who art in heaven..." (Matt.6:9)
Our heavenly Teacher has given us these words to take with us as we draw near to our Father. We have in them a form of prayer in which there breathes the freshness and fullness of eternal Life. Simple enough for a child, yet so divinely rich that it comprehends all that God can give. To appreciate this word of adoration, we must remember that none of the saints before Jesus ever ventured to address God as their Father. It places us at once in the midst of the wonderful revelation that the Son came to make His Father our Father too.
The knowledge of God's Father-love is the first and simplest, and the last and most profound. It is within the personal relationship to the living God, and the personal conscious fellowship of love with God Himself, that prayer begins.
"Hallowed be Thy name."
The word "holy" is central to the Old Testament. Our prayer must be that in ourselves, in all God's children, and in the presence of the world, God Himself would reveal the holiness, the Divine power, the hidden glory of the name of Father.
"Thy kingdom come."
The Father is King and has a Kingdom. The son and heir of a king has no higher ambition than the glory of his father's kingdom. In times of war or danger, this becomes his passion.
The children of the Father are here in the enemy's territory, where the kingdom, which is in heaven, is not yet fully manifested. What could be more natural than the cry, with deep enthusiasm, "Thy kingdom come"! The coming of the Kingdom is the great event on which the revelation of the Father's glory, the blessedness of His children, and the salvation of the world depends.
"Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven".
In heaven God's will is done, and His will may be done on earth, just as in heaven. As His will is done, the kingdom of heaven comes into the heart. Wherever faith has accepted the Father's love, obedience accepts the Father's Will. This surrender to obedience, and the prayer for a life of heaven-like obedience, is the spirit of child-like prayer.
"Give us this day our daily bread".
After the child has yielded himself to the Father in caring for His holy Name, His Kingdom and His Will, he has liberty to ask for his daily bread. A master cares for the food of his servant, a general of his soldiers, a father of his child. So won't the Father in heaven care for the child who has in prayer given himself up to God's keeping?
"And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."
As bread is the first need of the body, so is forgiveness for the soul. And provision for the one is as sure as for the other. We are children, but sinners too. Our right of access to the Father's presence we owe to the precious blood of Christ, and the forgiveness it has won for us.
Such forgiveness, as a living experience, is impossible without a forgiving spirit to others. As "forgiven" expresses the heavenward relationship, so "forgiving" describes the earthward relationship of God's child.
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
Our daily bread, the pardon of our sins, and then our being kept from further sins and the power of the evil one, in these three petitions all our personal needs are encompassed. The prayer for bread and pardon must be accompanied by the surrender to live in all things in holy obedience to the Father's will. And believers pray in everything to be kept by the power of the indwelling Spirit from the power of the evil one.
This prayer leads us upwards to the true life of children of the Father. Such prayer will indeed be the fellowship and interchange of love always bringing us back in trust and worship to Him who is not only the Beginning, but the End:
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, for Ever. Amen.
"Pray therefore in this manner: Our Father who art in heaven..." (Matt.6:9)
Our heavenly Teacher has given us these words to take with us as we draw near to our Father. We have in them a form of prayer in which there breathes the freshness and fullness of eternal Life. Simple enough for a child, yet so divinely rich that it comprehends all that God can give. To appreciate this word of adoration, we must remember that none of the saints before Jesus ever ventured to address God as their Father. It places us at once in the midst of the wonderful revelation that the Son came to make His Father our Father too.
The knowledge of God's Father-love is the first and simplest, and the last and most profound. It is within the personal relationship to the living God, and the personal conscious fellowship of love with God Himself, that prayer begins.
"Hallowed be Thy name."
The word "holy" is central to the Old Testament. Our prayer must be that in ourselves, in all God's children, and in the presence of the world, God Himself would reveal the holiness, the Divine power, the hidden glory of the name of Father.
"Thy kingdom come."
The Father is King and has a Kingdom. The son and heir of a king has no higher ambition than the glory of his father's kingdom. In times of war or danger, this becomes his passion.
The children of the Father are here in the enemy's territory, where the kingdom, which is in heaven, is not yet fully manifested. What could be more natural than the cry, with deep enthusiasm, "Thy kingdom come"! The coming of the Kingdom is the great event on which the revelation of the Father's glory, the blessedness of His children, and the salvation of the world depends.
"Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven".
In heaven God's will is done, and His will may be done on earth, just as in heaven. As His will is done, the kingdom of heaven comes into the heart. Wherever faith has accepted the Father's love, obedience accepts the Father's Will. This surrender to obedience, and the prayer for a life of heaven-like obedience, is the spirit of child-like prayer.
"Give us this day our daily bread".
After the child has yielded himself to the Father in caring for His holy Name, His Kingdom and His Will, he has liberty to ask for his daily bread. A master cares for the food of his servant, a general of his soldiers, a father of his child. So won't the Father in heaven care for the child who has in prayer given himself up to God's keeping?
"And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."
As bread is the first need of the body, so is forgiveness for the soul. And provision for the one is as sure as for the other. We are children, but sinners too. Our right of access to the Father's presence we owe to the precious blood of Christ, and the forgiveness it has won for us.
Such forgiveness, as a living experience, is impossible without a forgiving spirit to others. As "forgiven" expresses the heavenward relationship, so "forgiving" describes the earthward relationship of God's child.
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
Our daily bread, the pardon of our sins, and then our being kept from further sins and the power of the evil one, in these three petitions all our personal needs are encompassed. The prayer for bread and pardon must be accompanied by the surrender to live in all things in holy obedience to the Father's will. And believers pray in everything to be kept by the power of the indwelling Spirit from the power of the evil one.
This prayer leads us upwards to the true life of children of the Father. Such prayer will indeed be the fellowship and interchange of love always bringing us back in trust and worship to Him who is not only the Beginning, but the End:
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, for Ever. Amen.