The Lord's Prayer - some thoughts

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, 

as we forgive those who trespass against us; 

and lead us not into temptation,  but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,

forever and ever, Amen.

I've said these words every Sunday pretty much since I was 3 years old. If you have been raised a Christian and done things over and over in church, you understand that sometimes you space out and just recite; you don't really think about what you are saying. I was doing that with the Lord's Prayer. So, to help me focus on what I am saying, I "translate" the words into modern English in my head. It then goes like this:

Our Father, who is in heaven, holy be Your name.

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

Give us today everything we need, and forgive us our sins,

as we forgive those who sin against us;

please help fight temptation and deliver us from evil.

For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,

forever and ever, Amen.

When I think about it in more modern terms, some things stand out to me. Now, let's take a look at the sections of the Lord's Prayer.

~Our Father, who is in heaven, holy be Your name.~

We are telling God that His name is holy and that we understand that.

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

Asking God to bring His kingdom and that His will is done here just as it is done in heaven.

~Give us today everything we need.~

Pretty self explanatory.

~And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.~

This is the biggest thing that I never got until I heard it on a Christian radio station.

In John 20:23, Jesus tells the disciples that "if you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." Matthew chapter 18 is the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. The end describes how the king treated the unmerciful servant and Jesus then says, " This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother form your heart." So in this part of the Lord's Prayer we are asking God to forgive us exactly how we have forgiven others. It is another great reason to forgive.

In the "original" version, the next part reads - and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

What's that about? God leads us into temptation? James 1:13-14 says, "When tempted,no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed." Really, we are asking God to help us resist temptation and keep us from evil.

For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever, Amen.

God gets all the glory from us, He has all the power, and the kingdom is His for eternity.