Mat 6:9-13 | PNT | STEP | After this manner therefore pray ye . The Savior does not bid us use these words, nor command any set form, but gives this as a proper example of prayer, simple, brief, condensed, yet all-embracing. Our Father which art in heaven . These words reveal a very tender relationship between God and the true worshiper, and base the petition on the fact that the child speaks to the Father. Hallowed be thy name . Of the seven petitions of the Lord's prayer the first three are in behalf of the cause of God: the glory of his name, the extension of his kingdom, and the prevalence of his will. The other four, which are properly placed last, as least important, pertain to our individual needs. No one can offer the first three petitions who is in disobedience. "Hallowed": Holy, sacred, reverenced.

Matthew 6:9-13

After this manner therefore pray ye. The Savior does not bid us use these words, nor command any set form, but gives this as a proper example of prayer, simple, brief, condensed, yet all-embracing.

Our Father which art in heaven. These words reveal a very tender relationship between God and the true worshiper, and base the petition on the fact that the child speaks to the Father.

Hallowed be thy name. Of the seven petitions of the Lord's prayer the first three are in behalf of the cause of God: the glory of his name, the extension of his kingdom, and the prevalence of his will. The other four, which are properly placed last, as least important, pertain to our individual needs. No one can offer the first three petitions who is in disobedience. "Hallowed": Holy, sacred, reverenced. Thy kingdom come. The Messiah's kingdom had not yet come, but was proclaimed by the Lord as at hand. It did speedily come, but in its fullness, and in its final triumph over evil, it has not yet come. For this coming we may now pray, and the prayer is answered in part by each success of the gospel.

Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven. None can pray thus who have not merged their own wills into the divine will. He, in effect, prays the prayer of Gethsemane, "Not my will, but thine, be done" (Lu 22:42). It is mockery for disobedient lips to utter such a prayer. Give us this day our daily bread. We are bidden to ask for our bread, not for future years, but for "this day". Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Debts means moral obligations unfulfilled--our shortcomings, our sins. Let it be noted with emphasis that God is asked to forgive us as we forgive others. We ask, in other words, that he may mete out to us what we measure to others. Lead us not into temptation. The thought is that God may preserve us from temptations that might lead us astray. No man can pray these words who does not try to keep out of temptation.

For thine is the kingdom. This clause, called the doxology, is wanting in the oldest and best manuscripts, and undoubtedly an addition by men.