Matthew 6:8-13 ( NKJV )
“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
We are studying the model for prayer that Jesus gave us in Matthew 6. We have learned many things from Jesus about what and how to pray. We have learned that Christian prayer is about relationship not religion. We have learned that our focus must be on God’s kingdom and God’s will, but we also have come to understand that to extend God’s kingdom and to bring about God’s will is the answer to every human question.
Today lets finish by looking at the last elements in Jesus’ model. We finally come to prayer for our own needs. I find it interesting that Jesus neither begins nor ends with this thought, but puts into the middle. It is also interesting that Jesus does not even devote a full sentence to our own needs. How much of our time in prayer is spent letting God know what we need, how important it is that we get it and how we think God should accomplish the provision. I don’t know, but I would like to suggest something. If it is more than the percentage of time Jesus spends in His model, it is probably out of balance.
Why does Jesus spend so little time praying about daily needs? Is it because it is unspiritual? Is it because God is displeased if we appear to care about our needs and those of our family? Of course not. Jesus spends very little time there because it is not necessary. Look at his words later in this same chapter.
Matthew 6:31-34 ( NKJV )
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Jesus spent very little time on personal needs because He knew that God already understood those needs and was more than willing to meet them. All Jesus needed to do was release faith in what God had promised. Anything more is just unbelief. Your needs are the same. You may spend time praying for wisdom and listening to what God has to say about what to do in order to see those needs met, but the actual praying for the needs should take very little time. “Lord I thank you that according to Phil. 4:19 you are meeting all my needs according to your riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Amen.” Something to that effect is all that is really needed. Anything more is actually unbelief.
Why does Jesus pray for daily bread. Why not weekly or yearly. I believe God can and will make provision beyond 1 day. My wife and I shop weekly. We are paid weekly. Some are paid monthly or bi-weekly. Is this unscriptural? Must we go to God every day and pretend that we get a daily paycheck? Of course not. What we do need to see is that our relationship to God is daily. Our need for his life is daily. We may not need to buy bread everyday in our culture. (In theirs they did, by the way.) We do need to depend on the Lord every day and not just once a week or once a month.
Jesus then incorporates forgiveness and repentance into daily praying. Do I really have to forgive everyday? What if I have no one to forgive? Should I dig up some old wound and forgive that? Again, we are thinking religiously not relationally. I have been married 38 years. My wife, being perfect of course, never needs forgiving. I, however, need forgiving often. Even I do not need to be forgive every day. In a relationship like marriage, however, we need to always be quick to forgive. We need to be ready to forgive.
I believe that is what Jesus is talking about. Lord help me to be ready to forgive any offence just as You have forgiven every offence I have committed against you. I need to be mindful of what Jesus has done for me and I need to be ready to do that for others. This kind of thinking keeps me clean on both sides of the ledger. On the one side I don’t hold grudges. I don’t allow a lack of forgiveness to poison my life. Remember not forgiving never hurts the person you are aiming it at, it always hurts you more.
On the other hand I also remember how much God has forgiven me. I remember how much my Father has done for me. Jesus died for my sins. He shed His blood so I could walk free from guilt and condemnation. I can certainly give up my right to retribution of any kind for someone else.
Jesus then adds the idea of temptation, or at least being kept from it. I know God would never lead us into temptation. He says so in James. Why does Jesus pray this? I believe it is so we will remember our enemies and who is the source of victory over them. The flesh and the devil are the source of all temptation and they are our prime enemies. If we are going to defeat them we must have the help of the Lord. We will never do so on our own. Therefore we need to make pray a regular part of the fight.
Finally Jesus ends in a similar manner to which He began. “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” The focus of our whole life should be to God, His kingdom and His glory This focus must be forever. It must be every day and every minute of every day. This is how Jesus lived. This is also what gives prayer it’s effectiveness. When my focus is there, seeking His kingdom first, everything else falls into place. Isn’t that what we just read in Matthew 6?
With all these things functioning in our prayer time, we will be successful. You can recite the “Lords Prayer” if you like. There is nothing wrong with that unless you allow to be vain repetition. I believe it is more important to study it and understand it’s purpose. I believe we need to incorporate it’s elements into our prayer life. If we do than we will be able to end our prayers as Jesus ended this one. AMEN, so be it.
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