It’s not that often talked about in the church but Jesus himself said it.
The Lord’s prayer says,
“forgive us our sins, as we forgive those that sin against us” – Matthew 6:12.

Infact, it’s the only part of the Lord’s prayer, that Jesus commentated on (at least what was recorded for us in the gospels).

He said : “For if you forgive others their trespasses (sins), your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” – Matthew 6:14-15.

So we are forgiven in the same way we forgive others.
Well now, that’s some serious motivation to forgive.

It doesn’t mean you need to be best friends still. It doesn’t mean you should put yourself in harms way.
You can still have boundaries and maybe even should.

But in your heart you can forgive and move on.
Apart from the massive benefit of your own sin being forgiven,

forgiving others
releases bitterness, anger, and whole lot more.

Often, physical healing comes when we let go of something we have been holding for a long time.

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This issue is so important, that literally half the Bible (New and Old Testament) deals with this issue of forgiveness.
Atonement for sin, the passover lamb, Joseph, Jonah, Jesus (which means God is salvation) and everything Paul writes about.

This is a big deal!

And yet, forgiveness, for us, is free.
Although it cost the very life of the one perfect person, Jesus, it is completely free for us (John 3:16).

If you’ve been a Christian, for a while, don’t ever lose sight of this incredible fact, Jesus died so you can be forgiven and live eternally and to the full (John 10:10).

If you are not a Christian, why not change that today?
It’s free. God just wants you (all of you).

By praying the Lord’s prayer and meaning it, you become a believer, a Christian.
Your life will change as you walk with God. Find a good church and go every week and let the Holy Spirit transform you.

Don’t forget this prayer is communal. Forgive us our sins. When we pray this, we are praying for the salvation of our friends and family too! It’s also a daily prayer.
It’s incredible to think that when Stephen prayed for Saul/Paul’s forgiveness, that perhaps that maybe the reason (or partly) half the New Testament was written by Paul and not someone else (Acts 7:59-8:1).

Tomorrow, we will talk about the one condition to forgiveness. It’s not often talked about, but Jesus said it a few times and so we must too.

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“Give us this day our daily bread” – Matthew 6:11.

1. This prayer is a daily prayer. Don’t just pray this once a week or every now and then.
2. He is our provider.
3. You don’t want to live on yesterday’s bread. Bread goes stale real quick.
4. As we’ve mentioned before …. this is a community prayer. When you pray, ‘give us this day our daily bread’, provision come my way too. And vice versa.

A quick side note :
This prayer is not meant to be only prayed word for word.
Sure if you do just that daily, then it will have a great impact on your life.
But this prayer is also a model. A framework, scaffolding a great prayer life and relationship with the King of Kings.
More on that later ….

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Jesus has not only said that we can pray for our circumstances and regions where we live to be more like Heaven, He actually told us we should!

It would be disobedient to not pray for things to change.

There’s no sickness in Heaven ….
There’s no pride (only humility) in Heaven …..
There’s no conflict in Heaven …..

There is contentment ….
There is provision ….
There is life ….
and so much more in Heaven.

Pray with faith knowing that Jesus wants us to pray like this.

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Indeed when we pray, ‘Your will be done’ it has an impact on those things, but I do wonder if the biggest impact happens inside of us.

When Jesus asked His disciples to ‘ask the Lord of the harvest, to send out workers into his harvest field’ (Matthew 9:37), the disciples probably didn’t think they were praying for themselves. The very next verse sees Jesus calling them together, giving them authority and sending them out!

The pray-ers became the workers!

Perhaps the most important fruit that results from this prayer of ‘Your will be done’ is a change in us.
It’s where, in our hearts we cry out ‘abba, father’ (Yes daddy I’ll do it).

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Literally translated it is ‘Come, the Kingdom of You!’

I love that. That really feels like a powerful statement that brings transformation and it’s all about God.

I do wonder what tangible effect this declaration has in our lives and those around us (as this is a community prayer – our, us etc).
Especially if we are to pray this daily.

I do wonder why, Jesus would even want or need us to pray this? Won’t He make it happen anyway?
Yet He tells us to pray it!
To declare it!

Kingdom Come!

I think many of us (individuals, families and faith communities) are waiting for God to do something……
Whilst God is waiting for us to exercise our delegated authority.

Come, the Kingdom of You!

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In real life language, hallowed/holy means to be perfect and set aside.
Kind of like those plates your mum used to ‘set aside’ for when the Queen came to visit.

Interestingly, Jesus didn’t just say, ‘God, You are Holy’.
Of course, that is true …..
But He wanted us to know that ‘His Name’ is Holy.

He wanted us to declare it and remind ourselves that His name is hallowed, each time we pray the ‘Our Father‘.

His name is His identity, authority and power.
Many of us have names that simply our parents liked the sound of and the meaning was something they were not concerned about.

Not so with God.

He is creator.
He is judge.
He is healer.
He is love.
He is hope.
He is truth

and the list can go on.

The names of Jesus, were very carefully decided and declared too throughout the scriptures, Old and New Testaments (He is of course God).
He will be called wonderful counselor (John 14:16 – the Holy Spirit and Jesus), Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace – Isaiah 9:6 .
The virgin will give birth to a son and they will call him ‘Emmanuel’ (Isaiah 7:14) – God with us.
You shall name Him Jesus, because He will save His people. Jesus means God is salvation (Luke 1:31).
And more generically, we know that God gave Him the name that is above all names (Philippians 2:9).

When Moses asked, who shall I say sent me ….. the burning bush (God talking through that manifestation) said ‘I am’ – Exodus 3:14.
Grammatically that was so bad, but it is the only way to put it.

In the storm, God is Rescuer.
In poverty, God is Provider.
In need, God is our Help.

God is the great I am.

In fact, Jesus called himself that too.
He said, “Before Abraham was born, I am” (John 8:58).

Again, that’s terrible grammar, but it was a direct reference to Moses talking to the burning bush (God).
It was Jesus claiming to be God. They tried to kill Him on the spot, because of this.
It was Jesus, declaring that He is able, and has authority to heal, to save, to cleanse and so much more.

I love it, that when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, they said, which one of you is Jesus and He simply said ‘I am’ and they all fell to the ground (John 18:6)!

His name is Holy.
His power is beyond our comprehension.
His identity/authority is unlimited.

When you pray, know that you are praying to the unlimited, powerful God … perfect in everyway, with all authority.

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It’s hard for many to connect with God as Father, especially those that didn’t have a ‘good’ dad. Perhaps he was absent, or prone to mood swings. Even the best of earthly fathers make mistakes. None are perfect.

It’s good to remind yourself, that Father-God is different.

He is Holy, perfect in everyway. He is good.

We can trust Him.
And He is worthy of our honour, obedience and praise.

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It is true that Jesus used the aramaic word ‘abba’ when referring to Father God.
And I have heard it taught (and I’m sure I’ve taught it) that He says ‘abba’ in the Lord’s prayer.

It is possible that He did use the aramaic word ‘abba’ when teaching His disciple this prayer, but the word we have in the text, is actually ‘pater’.

The New Testament uses the word ‘abba’ 3 times (Mark 14:36, Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6) and uses it next to the word ‘pater’. So in our english Bibles it is written as ‘abba, Father’.

So I would think, that if Jesus used the word ‘abba’ when teaching the Lord’s prayer, that Matthew would of included that for us too. It was important to the writers to include the aramaic word, in the greek translation. And as Matthew was writing to a Hebrew audience, I think he would of especially included it.

Either way, the word ‘abba’ kind of means ‘yes, daddy’. Here’s a very interesting article I found on this.
Perhaps I’ll write more on this another time.

More importantly, today the focus is, that we can have a close, intimate and respectful relationship with God.
He is not just out there, beyond our reach but akin to one of the most special relationships we can possible have in this life.
We only exist because of our ‘Father’ (natural father and Father-God).
We must honour and respect our ‘Father’.
And we know that we are loved, even when we receive discipline (Hebrews 12:7-11).

‘Our Father’ also means we are related. Brothers and sisters in the Kingdom. No cousins or distant relatives, but brothers and sisters.

Fun fact : God has no grandchildren.

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Jesus said to His disciples, “this, then, is how you should 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 today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.'” – Matthew 6:9-13.

The first thing I notice is the word ‘Our’.

We talk so much about our relationship with God, and rightly so.
But we need to remember our need to be in relationship with one another.

‘Our’ and ‘Us’ is mentioned a number of times throughout this prayer.
‘I’ or ‘me’ is never used.

When we regularly pray the Lord’s prayer, indeed as individuals we are blessed, but surely there is a blessing collectively too.

A praying community should lift everyone up.
I encourage you, to regularly pray (daily) the Lord’s prayer ….
and to encourage as many friends and family members to pray it too.

We all get blessed, when we do.
We’ve better together and that’s why gathering together as the church is so important.

See you tomorrow.

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