The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:1-13)

I don’t intend to just preach tonight. I want us to pray right through the lesson tonight. Instead of preaching about the Lord’s Prayer tonight, I want us to pray it. The Lord’s Prayer mentions so many things and I want us to pray about each one of them as we come to them. I’ll try to guide you as best I can in this, but I’d like for us to just cover everything that is mentioned here in the Lord’s Prayer.

 

A man, Jesus said because of his boldness and his importunity, his persistence, he would receive his requests. He said that’s the way it is in prayer, to come with boldness to the throne of grace. He also said you are to be persistent in prayer. Ask and keep on asking. It literally means don’t just ask once, but to keep on asking and then keep on seeking and keep on knocking. Sometimes it takes some time for a process of prayer for us to reach what we need to reach because the Lord may want to work several things out in our lives or with others. He is talking about persistence in keeping on. And also, pray with faith understanding that our Heavenly Father will treat us far better – how much more, He says – than an earthly father. If we ask for bread, He will not give us a stone – hardness of heart, so to speak. If we ask for fish, He will not give us anything serpent-like. Or if we ask for an egg, he will not give us a scorpion. He says your Heavenly Father is wanting to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. I want you to keep those verses in mind tonight as we begin the Lord’s Prayer.

 

Please say the first line of the Lord’s Prayer aloud with me. Say it to God. “Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed by thy name.” In the Old Testament, the Name of the Lord, which translated in the King James, the title ‘Lord’ for each time in the use of Jehovah is the translation of the word Jehovah. I have listed some examples of how the name of the Lord is used in the Old Testament and what it means. First of all, this first expression has to do with our righteousness. Jehovah is our righteous. Right now, that has something to do with the pardon that we have received for our sins. It has to do with our justification and being brought in a right relationship. I want us to begin right now with thanksgiving for pardon. Would you think back to the time when the Lord saved you and pardoned you and forgave you and justified you? Let us thank Him together.

 

“Our Father, we thank You that through the blood of Jesus Christ and through the power of Your marvelous grace, we have been forgiven. Thank you for forgiveness and pardon of sin tonight, Oh Lord. Thank you that there is no condemnation in our hearts. Thank you, Oh Lord, that You have rolled away that burden and You have cast that great debt aside to forgive us of that great debt. Hallelujah! Thank you for salvation.”

 

Continue to thank Him because He is our sanctifier and let us thank Him for His cleansing and purging power. How many of you know that you have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and the Father has purged you? Let’s thank Him.

 

“Our Father, we thank you for Your cleansing power. We thank You for deliverance, Oh God, from the power of sin. We thank you for purging us, Lord, from the uncleanness of this world and the power of Satan and putting us in right relationship with You, Oh Lord.”

 

Because of forgiveness and cleansing, we have peace and Jehovah Shalom means ‘Jehovah is peace.’ Oh thank God for the peace that He brings. Let’s thank Him tonight for the peace that we have in a world of turmoil. Will you pray it? Will you thank Him?

 

“Oh, we thank you Oh God. We lift our hearts to thank You for the peace. Oh, thank you, Lord, for the joy of your peace and your wonderful love that has caused us, Oh Lord, not to be at odds against our Heavenly Father, not to be an enemy against You, Oh Lord. Not be turning away from Your will, but oh we have peace because we have been reconciled to You, Oh God. Hallelujah!”

 

Don’t you feel that wonderful peace in your heart tonight? Thank God. His name also means Jehovah Shamah, the Lord is there. This speaks of His presence. Let’s praise Him and worship Him because of His presence tonight.

 

“Our Father, we glorify You because You are here. You have said that through Jesus Christ You would come and abide with us. Thank you for Your presence, Oh Lord. We honor Your presence. We acknowledge Your presence. We glorify You, Lord, and we rejoice in Thy presence. And we give honor and praise to You because You are with us. We are not alone but You are with us, Oh God. We love You and we thank You for Your holy presence.”

 

His name is used in a sense of a banner over us. Jehovah, My Banner. It literally speaks of His protection and His might that overshadows as He overshadowed Israel with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. So He also brings protection and overshadows us with His banner of love. The Bible says that His banner over me is love. Let’s praise Him because He is present to overshadow us with His protection.

 

“Our Father, we honor You. Hallowed be Thy Name, Oh Lord God, because of Your protection and Your mighty hand and Your cloud of love and Your cloud of grace that overshadows us and we rejoice. Praise God. We rejoice, Lord, and we give thanks to you because of Your cloud of glory that overshadows our lives and gives us protection.”

 

We thank God also that He is our Shepherd. Because of that, we receive provision and protection and also pastoral care from this great Shepherd. How many of you have experienced the divine care of the Lord, our Shepherd? Let’s thank Him.

 

“Our Father, we thank You, we praise You, and we magnify You tonight because You are a God who cares and You are a God who provides. You are a God who can be seen with Your great provision and power and we rejoice because of Your care. We are not alone, Lord, but we are the sheep of Your pasture, My God. Oh, You are the Shepherd of Israel and You are our God who guides and directs us and cares and provides for us. You are also the God who heals. Thank you for Your healing virtue.”

 

I want you to raise your hand if you’ve ever been healed by the power of God. Be specific and thank Him for those times when He has healed you.

 

“Thank you, Lord, for the time when You healed me of gall bladder trouble. Thank you, Lord, for the time you healed me of so many other things, even as a child. Thank you, Lord, for your healing mercy and your gracious love. Hallowed be thy name, Lord, because in your name, Oh God, in your name there is pardon and purging. In your name, Lord, there is peace and your holy presence. In your name, Lord, there is provision and power. In your name, Lord, there is care and your presence and we rejoice because of your healing mercies and your gracious love. Hallelujah!”

 

This pattern of prayer that Jesus gave us to begin with hallowing the name of our Heavenly Father, to do that in worship and praise and thanksgiving before we present any petition. But then He said, then begin to present your petitions. The first one is, pray Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heaven. I want us to pray this prayer and be specific. I have listed for us to pray for His kingdom come, His will be done in our life and in our family and in our church and in the nation. Whatever comes to your heart and whatever burden is on your heart for the next few moments, let’s pray ‘Lord, let the rule of God – the kingdom of God come in my life as it is in heaven.’ Let us pray.

 

“Our Father, we are praying tonight for the Kingdom of God to prevail in this earth. We are praying, Lord, for your will to be done in our hearts and in our lives. I pray, Lord, for your kingdom to come and your will to be done in my own life. Oh God, help us not to step outside of your divine leading, not outside of your will but my Lord, in Jesus Name, let your will be done in our lives. Oh God, I pray for the members of my family. I lift them up and my loved ones and friends, and I pray oh Kingdom of God rule and reign in their hearts and lives. May your will be done. Hold us some way in thy perfect will, Oh God, so that we do not turn aside from following you and obeying you and honoring you and giving reverence unto thy name. Lord, let the kingdom come and the will of God be done in our church. My Lord, we pray rule over us. Lord, be our rule and be our guide and be our direction, Oh Lord. Let your will be done. Have your way. Help us to surrender all to the will of God.”

 

How many of you can say ‘I surrender all to the will of God? Not my will, but Thine be done.’

 

Jesus said also, ‘When you pray, say this, too… Give us this day our daily bread. Luke says day by day our daily bread.’ I want you to think of the petitions now that you need to lift up to God for His provision. We’ve already talked about the Lord provides – Jehovah Jireh. Jehovah’s provision shall be seen. Let’s pray about it specifically. I want you to think about the things that you need. Think of your needs, even if it is daily bread and just simply present those petitions to the Lord. Be specific with Him. Be bold with Him.

 

“Our Father, we present to you now our petitions and our special needs. We’re asking you, Lord, for your divine will to be done and for provision to be made. We pray that you would supply our daily needs as individual people tonight. We pray, Oh Lord, that we would come to understand and believe that you are ready to provide and that you are ready to supply every need. We trust in you for that, Oh God. We do not lean upon our own provision, but we trust in the provision and power of God. We pray for healing mercies and we pray Oh Lord, that the need may be supplied in our own lives day by day and in our friends and loved ones. We lift up those who are really suffering in need. We think of our missionaries around this world. We think of the people who are suffering for presenting the gospel. We thank you. We lift up our hearts to remember those, Oh Lord, who are sacrificing to attend our schools and receive training, who are sacrificing to open up new works, who are sacrificing to preach the gospel around this world. We pray, Lord, that their needs may be met according to your riches in glory. Will you open the windows of heaven and pour out your blessings upon your people that there will not be room enough to receive and help us by faith to trust you and believe you, Oh Lord, for every need we have – spiritual, material and financial. We pray for the needs of this church that it may be met according to thy riches in glory. Lord, for the ministries that you have ordained and for the work that you are sending forth to reach this community and round about with the gospel of Jesus Christ that the needs may be abundantly supplied according to your own will and riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Hallelujah!”

 

How many of you have been in dire circumstances but you prayed and God answered and supplied your need? Would you testify by raising your hand and praising the Lord?

 

If you will allow me one testimony: My wife and I were in a strange situation and we didn’t know which way to turn or what to do, no money, didn’t know exactly what our ministry was going to be and I went out into the woods and knelt down by a little sapling. I was praying ‘Oh God, we’re in your hands. You’ve called us and you must direct us now,’ and I heard a car. The Lord spoke to me and said ‘This is the mailman. Go to the mail box. The answer to your prayer is in the mail box.’ I went and it was! I want to tell you our God supplies needs when we trust Him and put our whole heart in Him. Praise God!

 

Let’s continue in this great prayer. He says ‘When you pray, you say this…and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.’ Matthew mentioned some other words besides debtors because later on Jesus talks about our trespasses and also our transgressions. We must forgive other people their transgressions and we must live a life of forgiveness in order to be forgiven. Luke spells it out in a more serious word when he says ‘forgive us our sins.’ I want us to take this seriously. This is the Lord talking to His disciples and saying ‘When you pray, say this…forgive us our sins as we forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Forgive us our trespasses, our transgressions.’ If there is anybody in this house tonight who is not walking in the fullness of joy of forgiveness, pray this Lord’s Prayer. If you can’t have joy and peace because there is something harboring in your heart and you can’t forgive, someone has mistreated or disappointed you and you’re still holding on to that, it will eat like a cancerous sore and steal your joy and your confidence and your faith. You need to pray this prayer tonight.

 

“Our Father, we pray for forgiveness of our debts, our transgressions, our trespasses, our sins, Oh God. Help us to know the joy and the absolute freedom of living a life of forgiveness, living in forgiveness, forgiven and being able to forgive others. Give us that spirit of Christ Jesus that is able to forgive those who would spitefully use us. My Lord, in Jesus Name, help us Oh Lord, not to harbor one thing in our hearts that would keep our prayers from going through to the throne of grace. Let there be nothing abiding in our hearts that would keep us from having full assurance of faith and receiving the fullness of your pardon and your love and your glorious grace.”

 

If there is anything at all there, friend, release it tonight and let it go. Let the Lord fill your heart with the fullness of His joy. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! And then He said to say this…’lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’ Part of what that means is Lord, help me not to have to be led because of temptation and trial, before I get myself in trouble and have to call on you. Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me. Again, I’m going to ask that we be specific in your own heart between you and God. If there are temptations, if there are pressures that would cause you to turn aside from following close to Jesus, pray this prayer deliver us from evil.

 

“Our Father, in all seriousness, we stand before You now. We want to open up our hearts to You. You know what is inside. You know what’s there. And Oh God, we pray lead us not by temptation. Lead us not by trial. Oh God, help us to be so sensitive to Your Spirit that we would be led and we would avoid the very appearance of evil. Oh God, help us to be so sensitive to the Holy Spirit that we walk in the power of the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. My God, help us, deliver us from the hand of the evil one. Deliver us, Oh Lord, so that our faith will not fail. Deliver us from the power and the wiles of the devil, Oh God, so that we would not turn aside to sin and evil and be overcome with temptation of this world, but that through Your delivering power and through Your marvelous grace and through Your keeping grace, Oh Lord, we would be able to stand in these days as a testimony to the grace of God and the redeeming love of our Heavenly Father. Hallelujah!”

 

You see the Lord Jesus, in this prayer, has so provided that when we pray earnestly through this prayer step by step, that we could stand before Him justified and clean and pure in our hearts and in our motives and then be able to say “For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.” It is not our kingdom. Let’s surrender and say “Lord, You are in charge. You’re in charge. It is Your kingdom , Oh Lord.”

 

“Oh Lord, we praise You. You are the King, Lord. We are Your subjects. It is Your kingdom, Lord. It is not ours. It is Your glory. It is Your power, Lord, not ours. It is Your glory, Oh Lord. Thine, Oh Lord, is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”