The Lord's Prayer (part 2)
John D. Telgren


The part of the prayer that says "your will be done" is a prayer of extreme faith. It's what Jesus prayed before he faced the awful cross. It is not a cop out or an excuse for those times God does not grant what we ask for. It is a faithful resignation to a God who is not only in control, but knows what is best. And what God knows is best is not what we always think is best.

Next, Jesus taught us to ask God to give us our daily bread. This may seem like a mundane request. But a close look will reveal that this is also a statement of deep faith. Notice that Jesus didn't teach us to pray for wealth, or for our "yearly" bread. He taught us to pray for our "daily" bread. He will later teach in Matthew 6 that each day has enough of it's trouble. So instead of worrying about tomorrow, let's trust God to provide for us today.

The next statement, "forgive us our debts" reveals the absolute necessity of the cross. Each of us owes a debt to God. Jesus didn't teach that we should say to God, "We pay to thee our debts." We all have an impossible debt to pay. The only way for the debt to be satisfied is through forgiveness which comes only through the offering of Jesus on the cross. Because God has forgiven us such a great debt, we also forgive others their debts to us as well. We don't hold grudges just as God does not hold grudges. But there is more. The instruction from Jesus that we say "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" acknowledges that God forgives us in the way we forgive others. If we do not forgive our brother of his little debt, then God will not forgive us our big debt.

Next, Jesus says to pray, "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." This seems like a futile prayer because nearly everyone has to face evil every day. However, this phrase should be translated, "deliver us from the evil one." So it is not a prayer of deliverance from evil, for "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one (Jn 5:19)." This is a prayer to protect us from the schemes of Satan. He is a liar and the father of all lies and will do anything to entice us to live a life without God.

Then Jesus prays, "For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." The last phrase and even the last word is a declaration of faith. In Hebrew thought, The kingdom of God was called "Malkut Shemayim" (Reign/rule of Heaven), not "Mamlekah Shemayim" (Kingdom of Heaven). There is a slight difference in these two that is lost in the translation to Greek from Hebrew. In Greek, the word, "basilea" can mean either "kingdom" or "reign/rule." Since the common Hebrew phrase was "Rule/Reign of Heaven" that is what is meant by kingdom of God. So it is not talking about a place, but a dynamic concept. Indeed, all rule, power and authority belong to him. There is no end to his rule. This means he has dominion over the evil one himself.

Then he ends with "Amen." This is originally a word borrowed from Hebrew and not translated into Greek. Even in English, it still remains untranslated. The Hebrew 'amen comes from a root that carries the meaning of confirmation, support, faithfulness, firmness or fidelity. So to end a word with a "Amen" is a statement of faith that God has "surely" heard our prayer.