While prayer is not just petition, a part of prayer includes asking God to supply the daily physical needs of His people. Yet when Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He did not instruct them to ask God for six months of supplies to store up in case things get tough in the near future. No, He taught them to ask for the needs of today.
The children of Israel were given manna every morning. They were to gather only what they needed for that day, not gather extra and store it for future consumption. Yet a few tried and it grew maggots and spoiled. God was teaching His children to trust Him to meet their daily needs. This is what helps to build faith in a God who already knows what is needed before His children ask.
“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
Forgiveness is not always an easy thing to grant when wrongs have been done. But forgiveness is one of the foundational truths of the Christian faith. Salvation is based on God’s forgiveness of sins through the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ. For a believer to deny forgiveness to someone who has committed an offense against them is to forget the forgiveness that God granted for their own offenses.
Jesus taught that if man did not forgive others, God would not forgive them. That is why, when He taught His disciples to pray, He stressed the spiritual connection between personal forgiveness and forgiveness granted to others.
“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
The translation of this verse can be misleading. The truth is that God cannot lead someone into temptation. James 1:3 teaches, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” It must be understood that the significance of this part of the prayer is, “Protect us from temptation, and deliver us from the enemy of our souls.”
God always provides a way out of temptation when it becomes too great to resist. And God is always ready to rescue one of His children when Satan has them surrounded. Even still, to pray for divine intervention is to acknowledge God’s infinite ability to save those that He loves.
“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
The earth and everything in it belongs to God. The heavens are the works of His hands, and He owns them, too. Yet from the beginning, mankind has resisted the authority of God and His rightful ownership. Since the fall of man, anarchy has been God’s greatest enemy in the hearts of His people. It was for this reason that when Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He included one final recognition of the omnipotence of God. Again, this is an act of submission and humility.
All rule, all power, all glory belongs to God alone. No mere man has the right to take them from Him. But all men must be willing to give them to Him.