The Lord's Prayer: Petition

Give us  this day our daily bread,- Matthew 6:11 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

The first half of this prayer is God focused. This is the beginning of the second half which speaks about our needs. But it is not disconnected; they are connected.

The Reality of our need

This is confusing. From praying for spiritual direction and God's kingdom, we start praying for bread. Confusing for the early church fathers. Bread is not just the word of God. It is representative of our physical needs. Food, shelter, and other daily needs.

Why? To remind us of our utter dependence on God. Our job, health, and very breath... all comes from God. We believe that we are self sufficient. We don't consider that God gave us our intelligence, our health, our ability to work for daily provision... It is all by the grace of God.

Our Responsibility to others

We don't say MY father in this prayer. We say OUR father. In our sinfulness, we have the default of being self focused. But in Christ, we are praying for other believers, family, and those around us. We pray this prayer so that we can learn how to share. God may use us to answer other's prayers for daily bread. We are to serve the poor, so that we can pray this without being hypocritical.

How the Gospel guides our request

When we pray, we are asking for daily needs. Not extravagance nor abundance. Just our needs. There is not a one-size-fits-all set of "needs". God is not saying that we should only pray for food and a tent. It is different for each person and situation.

How then should we approach this? We should pray for it and rest.

Jesus explains:

“Therefore I tell you,  do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,  yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.- Matthew 6:25-33 ESV

Pray persistently. But we should pray faithfully. Not pray because we distrust and worry. God is our heavenly father. We are not orphans. Do not worry. God knows our needs. Lay them at His feet and rest.

The Lord's Prayer: Submission

Your kingdom come,  your will be done,   on earth as it is in heaven. - Matthew 6:10 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

The point of the petitions

We are not praying for God's kingdom to come into existence. God rules. But since the fall, earth and sinners resist His reign. We are praying for the full coming of His kingdom here on earth. In order for this to happen, the opposition must be crushed.

Christ has come and dealt the deathblow. Victory is already here. But the opposition continues to fight. The kingdom doesn't come like a light switch, it comes like a mustard seed. Slowly and imperceptibly coming. Like a dawn, starting in darkness and shadows slowly receding until everything is light.

We pray for bringing glory and reverence of God. Immediately afterwards, we pray for missions. The growth of the kingdom. For people to come into saving knowledge of God. That is a priority over asking for daily bread. The daily provision is to support the seeking of God's kingdom. If we think it strange, then this is simply the Word pointing out our twisted priorities.

The posture of the petitions

We are not to mindlessly ask these things. It should not be going thorough the motions. We should be consumed about doing all things for God. Our primary concern should be for pleasing God.

Our hearts should be thankful and desiring to obey God. But often we do it begrudgingly. Not willingly or fully engaged to doing anything for God. If we hold anything back from God, we are not submitted. We want to say this is partial submission, but really we are saying our priorities matter more than God's. We are desiring our kingdom rather than God's. When we hold something back, we are saying... I'm the boss; I'm in control. We are not submitted.

Our unwillingness to fully submit is our lack of trust in God. We can only release control to those we trust. So we think it will be better to live for ourselves. We believe that obedience to God will not being joy, contentment, or happiness. We think that disobeying God will give us joy. We chase our dreams, party it up, or reach our goals and find ourselves feeling Meh.

Then perhaps we are beginning to understand the lie. It is not obeying God on one side and happiness on the other. God really desires the best for us.

The power to pray these petitions

Full submission means that God will take us up on it. He will bring us to suffering. There is no glory without a cross. That is the pattern set by our Lord, Jesus Christ. No matter what suffering God bring you to, Jesus understands our suffering. He bore the sins of the world.

God gave up his son for us. We can underwhelmed by things on this earth. But when we come into heaven, we will all be awed and overwhelmed. We will think that we did not spend enough time, money, resources on God's kingdom.

The Lord's Prayer: Adoration

“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.- Matthew 6:5-9 ESV

Rev. Charles Han

For those with plans and those without any idea of what lies ahead, this is a clarification and a promise. This is a call of going back to fundamentals. Back to the basics to achieve all that God had placed before us. Today's fundamental is prayer.

The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life by Bruce Wilkinson was a landmark book. It became a popular book, even for non-Christians. It became a merchandised extravaganza. Prayer guides, book bags, etc. But how about Jesus' prayer? Why does it not capture our attention in the same way? It is a model prayer given from Christ to his disciples. Let's examine it closely.

Our Father

We have the privilege to call God our father. The Jews back in that day never would have called the Holy One, father. In Aramaic, it was the familiar version as a child calls their father. Abba (Aramaic), Dad, Appa (Korean), Baba (Canto)... It means we are not just justified, we are adopted. It is not a clinical application of law, but a familiar relationship that God provides. We have gone from enemies to beloved children. This has been bought for us by the perfect relationship and rejection of Jesus by God, the Father. This is grace; unconditional love of God, our father.

This affects our prayers. We are confident, at peace, confident, secure, and drawn into intimacy with God. We consider our earthly fathers, but we don't all know about a father's love. God knows about the fatherless and has adopted us. We are not orphans. We are his children. We don't need to make an appointment. We don't have to be afraid to ask for something. We have intimate access.

In Heaven

He is powerful and transcendent. He is also holy. He calls us to intimacy, but he also deserves all reverence. He gives both tough and tender love. It is a balance that we have trouble keeping. He is not a domestic pet.

Hallowed be your name

This is the first request. What does it mean to hallow something? It means to make and keep sacred. God's name should be feared, respected, and adored. First in our lives, then the world. The first request is what is hallowed. What do we bring the most before Him? What drives us to pray? That is what is sacred and we desire to hallow in our lives. It is our idol. God should be first and foremost.

This is what centers our lives and our prayers rightly. It also will make us happier and more content. But this should not come from a sense of duty, but because it is our joy and desire. This is what keeps God holy and sacred in our lives.