The Lord's Prayer, Dissected

Every few years I look at each individual word of The Lord's Prayer. It seems that I always find something that I didn't realize the times before. Sometimes I even realize that I've been wrong about something, so please know that these are just musings and I'm not presenting my findings as insights that are "right." 

A few weeks ago, Pastor Steve encouraged me to buy the ESV Strong's Bible app by Olive Tree for my phone.  I trusted him on it because he loves words and their derivations as much as I do.  So I spent the most I've ever spent on an app (a whopping $20 haha) and started looking around.  (You can look at the app here. ) I used it to look at most of the words in the prayer above and this blog will be the definitions I found and what they mean to me.  Here is the passage from Matthew 6:7-13

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. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day 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 evil. 

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:
pray: supplicate, worship 
phrases: to repeat the same things over and over, to use many idle words, to babble, wordy  
Gentiles: heathen 
words: much speaking 
ask: call for, crave, desire, required 
like: in this way 

Courtney's thoughts (which are NEVER comparable to God's word and ONLY serve to connect some things in my head as GOD teaches and molds me): 

When you ask your Father for something honestly and humbly, don't just repeat a bunch of words over and over that you think sound "spiritual" or "good." Be honest, transparent. 

Bring your requests before Him and address GOD, not the people listening to you pray to Him. Don't let your prayer language be a copy of someone else's-like heathens who pray for performance. All of that is just useless babbling, a lot of pretty words that don't really mean anything. Your Father knows what you desire, what you crave to receive from Him before you even form the words to ask Him.  He just wants you.  Pray then in this way: 


 Our Father in Heaven 
father: the author of a family 
in: a fixed position 
heaven: eternity 

Courtney's thoughts: I am addressing my creator, the author of my story and our family. The head of the household. He exists firmly and permanently within eternity, which is His home, our future home: heaven. 

Hallowed be your name 
hallowed: holy, pure, acknowledged as separate
name: authority, character, rank, command
The name is used for everything the name covers, everything the thought or feeling of which is aroused in the mind by mentioning, hearing, remembering the name is how you call on someone. (I LOVE THIS)

Courtney's thoughts: After addressing my Father by his relation to me, I worship that name by acknowledging it as holy, pure, separate from any other name. By doing so, I'm recognizing that He has an authority that no one else has. It elevates Him and places Him above all else. 

It doesn't mean we have the power to put Him there, it's more like getting our minds in a place where we see Him where He actually is and for me, that humbles me. That's always a good position for me to be in as I pray.

We use His name because it reminds us what He has done in the past and the feelings that love aroused in us.  It's as if, in the second it takes to say His name, He does those things again for us. 

So STEP 1, the way we begin the prayer, is by exalting His name; 

repeating back to Him who He is...not because He doesn't know 

but because He wants to hear that WE know.  

Your kingdom come
kingdom: in heaven; the right to rule over a kingdom; royal power of Jesus; foundation of power; what we belong to; what belongs to the king 
come: appear, arise, find influence, be established 

Courtney's thoughts: His kingdom is in heaven and he is the one who rules over it all.  We belong to the king who rules over the kingdom and we should yearn for that kingdom to arise and be established so that we can be a part of it.  We should pray that His kingdom find influence in a place where it is not (earth). 

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
will: purpose
done: become, be fulfilled, grow, happen, be married 
earth: abode of men and animals; it has fixed boundaries 
heaven: eternity (so then no fixed boundaries)

Courtney's thoughts: Father, may your ultimate purpose be fulfilled where you placed your children to live. 

I found it really cool that it mentioned that earth has fixed boundaries as opposed to heaven which I guess does not. Heaven is eternity and doesn't need boundaries? Why would it? 

STEP 2 is telling Him that we yearn to be 

where He is but if we can't be there, 

we'll stay here and accept His 

will until we are. This part of the prayer also 
displays the faith and assurance we have that 

we will be united with Him after death. 

Give us this day 
give: bring forth, make, supply 
do this of your own accord, willingly
day: generally, now; present 

Courtney's thoughts:  "Give" sounds so demanding but maybe it's more of a passionate way to ask that God supply us with what we need for each day. A silent "please" at the beginning. Or maybe by not asking that He give, it shows faith because that's such a vulnerable place to be; to rely on someone for sustenance. 

Our daily bread 
daily: expected, needed
bread: food of any kind or bread; the bread of our necessity; the bread that suffices for each day

Courtney's thoughts: It also stated that back in the day, they made bread long and small. It was not to be cut, but broken and shared. Alluding to Jesus, I'm assuming. 

We faithfully ask that you supply us in THIS day with the bread we have come to trust that you provide, as expected, every day. The bread that we need and the bread that is enough for each day.  But only that day so that we wake up hungry for more the next day. We use the food you give us as fuel for our bodies in order to serve you. 

We aren't scared about where our food comes from when you have it ready for us morning after morning after morning. We don't even have to hoard it or ration it because you supply it new everyday.  

Over the past year, I have found such freedom in realizing that we are only responsible for one day at a time because that's all He prepares us for.  This chapter in Matthew goes on to say, "therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself" (verse 34). 

STEP 3 of the prayer is asking that 

He prepare our bodies with sustenance to serve Him, 

while at the same time recognizing that He alone 

is the supplier of what we need.  

And forgive us our debts 
forgive:  lay aside, omit, give up a debt 
debt: something justly owed, a fault, 

Courtney's thoughts: Along with being fed, please Lord, because we are sinners in need of a savior, we ask that you forgive us for what we do against you. Please lay aside the filth we hand to you that we don't know what to do with. Thank you for forgiving a debt that we rightly owe to you. Thank you for sending your son to die for the sins we ourselves commit. 

As we also have forgiven our debtors
as: like, since 
forgiven: to have laid aside/omitted/given up a debt 
debtors: a person indebted to us, a delinquent, a sinner, obligated to us, bound by a duty to us 
(wow) One who has not yet made amends to whom he has injured. 

Courtney's thoughts: BECAUSE of your great love and forgiveness you lavish on us, we forgive those who are indebted to us; who treat us with malice; who hurt our bodies and souls; even those who have not asked for such a forgiveness. We forgive every time and fully, AS He has forgiven us (or He isn't able to forgive us). 

STEP 4 is acknowledging that we are sinners in need of 

being saved from our inclination to sin. 

It's humbly asking Him to forgive us for sinning 

 AS we forgive the debts owed to us,

AS we forgive those who do bad things to us,

even if they don't ask to be forgiven. 

And lead us not into temptation 
lead (us not): don't bring us into 
temptation: adversity, an experiment, a trial,  
The trial of a man's fidelity, integrity, virtue, constancy. An enticement to sin, temptation -- like how the devil sought to divert Jesus the Messiah from his diving errand. Adversity, affliction, trouble: sent by God and serving to test or prove one's character, faith, holiness. To attempt to induce one to commit some (especially carnal) crime. 

Courtney's thoughts: This line always confused me.  Why would we have to ask that God not lead us into something bad like temptation?  Of course He wouldn't right?  But, I had some insight this time. 

I get the feeling that it's sort of like, "God, please don't let us be led to a place where we end up having to fight to prove our integrity and our commitment to you."  As in, maybe 2 different things. 

1. That God would lead us there or allow us to be led there (think Job) as a test to prove our faith. 

2. That we would have the strength to not go down those paths willingly, due to poor choices or because we were flirting with sin. Sometimes when you get too close to evil, the only way out is to fight a fight that should have never existed in the first place. 

But deliver us from evil
deliver: rescue us 
evil: the devil, those of bad character, wicked ones; those who cause pain and trouble; anguish, pain, great trouble, intense desire for it

Courtney's thoughts: Lord, rescue us from the enemy!  Rescue us from those who cause pain and rejoice in our suffering.  Rescue us from our desire to want things that are not of You and are not good for us.  Rescue us from the anguish that comes from living in this world. 

YOU. ARE. THE RESCUER. 

STEP 5 is asking God to strengthen us to be 

the type of person that doesn't need a trial to prove 

our commitment to Him.  Let it pour off of us!  

Let our devotion to You Lord never be in question 

and rescue us from the evils of this world 

(which includes our flesh)!

The last thing that I will do is simply put the steps in order below, so that I can think about them as I pray. These steps are not important compared to the blueprint He's already given us in His prayer.  They'll just jog my memory about what I've learned. 

STEP 1 

The way we begin the prayer, is by exalting His name; 

repeating back to Him who He is-
not because He doesn't know 

but because He wants to hear that WE know.  

STEP 2 

We tell Him that we yearn to be 

where He is but if we can't be there, 

we'll stay here and accept His 

will until we are.
This part of the prayer also 
displays the faith and assurance we have that 

we will be united with Him after death. 

STEP 3 

We ask that He prepare our bodies 

with sustenance to serve Him, 

while at the same time recognizing that 

He alone is the supplier of what we need. 

STEP 4 

We acknowledge that we are sinners in need of 

being saved from our inclination to sin. 

It's humbly asking Him to forgive us for sinning 

AS we forgive the debts owed to us,

AS we forgive those who do bad things to us,

even if they don't ask to be forgiven.  

STEP 5 

We ask God to strengthen us to be the type of person 

that doesn't need a trial to prove our commitment to Him.  

Let it pour off of us!  Let our devotion to You Lord 

never be in question and rescue us from the evils 

of this world (which includes our flesh)!

Amen

Amen means "so be it" or literally, "truth." As in, what you just said was the truth, so let it be. 

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