Meditations on The Lord’s Prayer

Lord Teach us to Pray…

Introduction to Prayer

These posts on the Lord’s Prayer follow the order of the compilation of Matthew 6:5-15 and Luke 11:1-13 from the ESV as found below.

================================================================

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

And he said to them, “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
May your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this (each) day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts (and sins),
as we ourselves also have forgiven everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil and the evil one.
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!“

================================================================

I believe the words written in these posts have come about as a result of proper study and a deliberate search for the meaning of the text, but I must admit that the possibility exists I may have read into the text those things I wanted to see. As you should with anything written about scripture, you should approach my explanations through prayer and proper study on your own. Should you find something I have written that seems inconsistent with scripture please respond to the specific post or e-mail me at onthefoothills@gmail.com.

================================================================