PRAYING THE KINGDOM OF GOD MATTHEW 6:9-15

MAIN IDEA In seeking first the kingdom of God; Jesus teaches us how to pray for our relationships with God, with ourselves, and with others.

I.

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD (VS 9-10)

We find our right place in life as we find ourselves in a right relationship with God. A. B. C. D.

OUR FATHER HIS NAME HIS KINGDOM HIS WILL

II. OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OURSELVES (VS 11-13)

We find peace as we learn to trust in God and not to lean on our own understanding. A. FOR BREAD B. FOR RIGHT RELATIONSHIPS C. FOR VICTORY

III. OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHERS (VS 14-15)

We find harmony as we learn to approach others with the love, grace, and mercy of Christ. A. HOW MUCH HAVE WE RECEIVED FROM CHRIST? B. HOW MUCH MORE DO WE NEED FROM CHRIST? C. HOW MUCH ARE WE WILLING TO OFFER OTHERS?

Praying the Kingdom Of God Matthew 6:9-15

Note: Everything I am preaching in this series on the Sermon on the Mount is taken directly from the following sources. There is not much that is original thinking on my part: 

The Gospel of Matthew by William Barclay

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Be Loyal by Warren Wiersbe

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The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard

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Celebration of Disciplines and Workbook by Richard Foster

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The Good and Beautiful Life by James Bryan Smith

Last time we were together, we talked about giving, praying, and fasting. These activities are meant to draw us closer to God; not for the purpose of trying to look holy before other people. Jesus said that we should not pray in public in order to look holy and that we shouldn’t pray nonsense; especially the vain repetitions of words and phrases as if they contained some special magical power. In order to put things in perspective, Jesus will pray this prayer in public and the church has prayed this prayer in the context of worship and personal devotion for over 2,000 years. However, we must point out that even though this prayer can be misused in both ways; public demonstrations of holiness and repeating this prayer as if it is magical; it is also a powerful way for us to pray. Christians feel that if we don’t pray exactly for what we want or need; God may answer our prayers holding us to the exact wording. We have somehow come to look at God as some sort of genie that we can manipulate if we use the right magical words. We believe that if we don’t end our prayers with the phrases, “In Jesus’ Name,” or “If it be Your will God,” then God won’t answer our prayers. We believe that if we pray the magical number of times, God will answer our prayers. In other words, we perceive God to be a legalistic magician. That is all insulting to God. I can easily look back at the ways I have prayed in the past and see that I have been guilty of this many times. The Bible is clear that God loves us; He knows what we want, what we need, and what is good for us. His desire is to engage us in a love relationship in which prayer is a way for us to interact with Him; He has given us the Holy Spirit to help us pray, Jesus to intercede for us in prayer, and loving access to Him anytime and anywhere. This prayer is powerful because it helps us to focus on what is important to God. The main idea of this morning’s text is this. IN SEEKING FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD; JESUS TEACHES US HOW TO PRAY FOR OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH GOD, WITH OURSELVES, AND WITH OTHERS. One of the reasons why I like James Bryan Smith’s series on spiritual formation is because he follows this model. His books are titled: The Good and Beautiful God, The Good and Beautiful Life, and The Good and Beautiful Community. We would all agree that prayer is extremely important in the life of a Christian; and yet if you’re like me, you may feel that this is something that we are not Page | 2

good at and don’t practice enough. Keep this in mind as we study through the Sermon on the Mount. We are called to practice holiness; it is not something that comes natural to us in our fallen state. Part of the redemption process is learning to replace false narratives with Jesus narratives and then practice living according to these new narratives. Prayer is something that takes practice. Kids have a way of getting us to look at our defective theology; in this case our defective views of prayer. A little boy was kneeling beside his bed with his mother and grandmother and softly saying his prayers, "Dear God, please bless Mummy and Daddy and all the family and please give me a good night's sleep." Suddenly he looked up and shouted, "And don't forget to give me a bicycle for my birthday!!" "There is no need to shout like that," said his mother. "God isn't deaf." "No," said the little boy, "but Grandma is." So when we pray, our goal is to pray directly to God. Our goal is not to be directed at other people. Let’s take some time to examine this prayer. We call it “The Lord’s Prayer,” but perhaps we should call it “The Disciples’ Prayer,” since Jesus gave it to us as a model. In Luke 11, Jesus gave this prayer to the disciples when they asked Him how to pray. This prayer is for Christ followers. This prayer is for you and me.

I.

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD (VS 9-10)

Jesus starts out this prayer by acknowledging our relationship with God in verses 9-10. WE FIND OUR RIGHT PLACE IN LIFE AS WE FIND OURSELVES IN A RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. Sometimes when I hear people pray, I wonder to whom they are praying. Is the God we worship from the King James era of history? Does God not understand or respond to plain simple English? For that fact, does God not understand everyday Italian, Japanese, Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese, Spanish, or any other language? Does God not understand heart language that people who are unable to talk pray? Who are we praying to? Jesus makes it clear that we are praying to His Father. However, please notice this; Jesus addresses God as “Our Father.” When we address God as our Father, we are describing our relationship to God, to ourselves, and to others. Our relationship to God is Father/child. Our relationship with ourselves is meant to remind us that we are deeply beloved children who are dependent on a loving Father for everything. Our relationship with others is that together with Jesus, we are all brothers and sisters. We are all part of this Royal Family. We are invited to address God as Father. In passing I would just like to point out a mistake I think we make. I have heard people say, “I could never think of God as Father since I had such an abusive father.” The knee jerk reaction by well-meaning people and some people with an agenda say, “Then simply address God as Mother.” To me, that solves nothing. Let’s say you had two abusive parents, then how do you want to address God? Let’s say you had an abusive brother; then do we address Jesus as our sister? Look, first of all, God is above gender. He created male and female in His image. To try and change a designation of God because of human abuse is to make the wrong person the Page | 3

model. Our earthly fathers are not meant to be the pattern by which we interpret God. God is the pattern by which we judge earthly mothers and fathers. The Bible, and in particular Jesus, portrays God as a Father who is incredibly loving, gracious, merciful, and forgiving. The God and Father of Jesus is as gentle, tender, loving and protective in a way that every earthly mother should model. In order to understand what kind of Father God is, take time to read Luke 15. This father had a rebellious son, who took half of the father’s estate, moved away, and wasted all the money on parties, prostitutes, and alcohol. The son ended up defeated and depressed, broke and without help. This wayward son decided to go home, humble himself, and beg for forgiveness. Jesus described this father as one who never gave up on his son; but looked for him every day. When the father saw this wayward son, he never said, “You got just what you deserved. You are lucky I’m taking you in and feeding you.” No, this father ran to his wayward son, wouldn’t even let him apologize, threw his arms around him, kissed him, dressed him in fine clothes, and threw a huge party in his honor. That’s the kind of Father we worship. If we want to judge human parents; God is the standard by which we measure them. Jesus adds to the characteristic of this Father that He is present in the heavens. It’s unfortunate that we don’t understand Hebrew cosmology. The word for heaven in Hebrew is almost always in the plural. When we pray, “Our Father in heaven,” we tend to think of God sitting way up there beyond the sky, the stars, and the universe. Now to be sure, heaven is a place that is transcendent from this world; but the Jews believed in 7 heavens. The first stage of heaven is the air around us. It would start right above our heads. God occupies all of the space around us. There are times when I am praying that I can imagine God’s face right before me. Jesus is praying something like, “Our Father, the One Who passionately loves us and wants to be with us, the One Who is ever present with us at all times in all places; we address You.” Remember we know that Jesus addressed God the Father as Abba in Aramaic that means something like daddy. It would be perfectly applicable to think of ourselves as little children curling up in our Father’s arms. As He holds us and looks at us intently, we say to Him, “Daddy, the One in Whose arms I am held.” Too many of us have never felt this from our earthly fathers and mothers. Too many of us have never felt this love from any person. That’s because only God can love us like this. In fact, there is no other god like our God. That brings us to the phrase that deals with His Name. Jesus’ next phrase is, “Hallowed be Your Name.” First of all, God’s Name is Yahweh. Since the Jews didn’t pronounce it for fear of disrespecting God, we are not sure how it is pronounced. Jews simply referred to God as Ha Shem which literally means, “The Name.” They took seriously the command in the Ten Commandments: You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. 7

Exodus 20:7 / Today’s New International Version

God’s Name is important. However, the word hallowed comes from the root word for ho ly. God’s Name is holy. I want to remind us that name is not just some sound that we respond to when called. For the Hebrew name referred to the nature, character, and personhood of someone. God is holy in the sense He is like no other being in existence. Further, He is totally separate from the Greek gods, Roman gods, Babylonian gods, or any other god. God’s Name means something like, “I am Who I am, I am Who I will be, or I will be Who I will be.” There is no other God. There is only Page | 4

One true and living God. Other ancient gods were capricious. They used humans for their own pleasure. They demanded to be served by humans in order to be accepted. Humans could never depend on the goodness of the gods. The God Jesus prays to and the God we worship is dependable. We can love Him because He first loved us. He gave His Son to redeem us while we were still His enemies. When we say, “Hallowed by Your Name,” we have to remember that God refers to us as holy ones. In Paul’s letter to the churches, he addresses us as saints which mean holy ones. Our Father is holy. He is like no other gods. He calls us holy. We are to be like no other humans. As we pray this phrase referring to God’s Name we need to remember that Jesus is the Name above all names . Next we are to pray for His Kingdom. The phrase is simple but profound, “Your Kingdom come.” It’s not as if God has to bring His Kingdom into existence. His Kingdom has always existed. In questioning Jesus (John 18) Pilate asked Jesus if He was the King of the Jews. Jesus said He was but that His Kingdom was not of this world. Jesus said that entering His Kingdom came as a result of acknowledging and living the truth. Pilate ended the conversation by asking Jesus, “What is truth?” We know that Jesus said that He was the way, the truth, and the life. In other words, we enter Jesus’ Kingdom by trusting and following Him. Jesus made it clear there is a past, present, and future aspect to His Kingdom. His Kingdom has existed from everlasting to eve rlasting. When Jesus healed the sick and cast out demons, He announced that His Kingdom was presently operating, and He said that one day, His Kingdom would destroy all other kingdoms. Listen carefully how Dallas Willard defines the Kingdom of God, “God’ s own ‘kingdom,’ or ‘rule’ is the range of His effective will, where what He wants done is done. The Person of God Himself and the action of His will are the organizing principles of His kingdom, but everything that obeys those principles, whether by nature or by choice, is within His kingdom.” Willard goes on to explain that for some reason, God has allowed other competing kingdoms to exist on earth. Jesus came to establish His Kingdom on earth and to advance His agenda of redemption. Wherever you and I go, the Kingdom of God advances because He is our King and we are His subjects. Wherever we bring God’s ministry of love and redemption; that is where God’s Kingdom is. We have a glorious mission of advancing God’s Kingdom. Barclay says, “The Kingdom of God is a society upon earth where God’s will is as perfectly done as it is in heaven. And that brings us to the next phrase concerning God’s will, “Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” This phrase is not a phrase of defeated resignation; this is a phrase of great anticipation and excitement. In his letter to the Romans, Paul said that as we offer ourselves up to God for service, and as we let the Holy Spirit renew our minds; we will know the will of God for our lives (Romans 12:1-2). When we pray “Your will be done,” we are asking God to allow us to partner with Him in His mission of redemption. We could easily personalize that to say, “Your will be done on earth, and in my life; as it is in heaven.” Because we belong to God’s Kingdom, we occupy heaven through Jesus and Jesus occupies earth through us. Paul talks about this mystery in his letter to the Ephesians (2:6). Jesus makes clear the mission of redemption; leading people to a saving relationship in Christ, to feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, and to welcome the stranger. WE FIND OUR RIGHT PLACE IN LIFE AS WE FIND OURSELVES IN A RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. In other words, as we embrace His Fatherly love, we become

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concerned with His Name, His Kingdom, and His will; we find the love we long for, the purpose and meaning in life we desire, and the security of knowing we are already in God’s eternal Kingdom.

II. OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OURSELVES (VS 11-13) Once our relationship with God is right, we can look to have a healthy relationship with ourselv es as described in verses 11-13. WE FIND PEACE AS WE LEARN TO TRUST IN GOD AND NOT TO LEAN ON OUR OWN UNDERSTANDING. Jesus teaches us to pray for our daily bread. This is rich; too rich to deal with here in depth so I’ll quickly hit on some themes. Fir st of all, bread has to do with more than just physical food. After going without food in a 40-day-fast, the devil tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread. Jesus answered with the statement, “People do not live by bread alone; but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Later on in His ministry, even though Jesus was tired, hungry, and thirsty; He spent time with a woman, led her to saving faith, and in turn she brought the whole town to talk to Jesus. The disciples were worried that He needed to eat and offered Him bread. Jesus said that His food was to do the will of God and to finish His work (John 4:34). Jesus also reminds us that He is the bread of life (John 6:48) and in the celebration of communion He portrays Himself as the bread of life. We are daily to depend on God’s provision for life, for purpose, and for security. One thing I think we need to keep in mind is that Jesus said, “Give us today our daily bread.” We tend to worry and fret about tomorrow. God is with us today. In Kingdom living, there is only today. When tomorrow comes it will be today and God will be with us when that today comes. Take time to go back and read Exodus chapter 16. God gives the Hebrews daily bread which is called manna. If they tried to hoard it and keep it for tomorrow, it rotted and turned to maggots. God’s presence, provision, and love are abundant for us today. Fretting over the past and worrying about tomorrow suck the joy out of today. We need to live in God’s love, provision, and presence in the now. He will also provide opportunities for us further His kingdom today. As far as we have control over a situation, we are to be the cause of right relationships with others. I’m going to deal with this more in the next section. However, in my relationship to myself, I must always remind myself that I am only able to stand in God’s presence because of the suffering and death of Jesus. Before I became a Christian, I was an enemy of God. I was a sinner who was hopelessly and helplessly lost. However, the moment I gave my life to Christ I became a sinner saved by grace. However, once I enter the Kingdom, I become a saint. The New Testament addresses us as saints. You and I are no longer sinners saved by grace. We are now saints. To be sure, we sometimes catch ourselves sinning; but sin is no longer part of who we are. We need to immediately confess, repent, and get rid of the sin because it is an alien substance to children of God. Because I live in God’s gracious and merciful loving-kindness, I am able to extend the same grace, mercy, and loving-kindness to others. The next phrase that deals with victory seems strange to me. I understand it and can vaguely see it in my mind; but I’m not sure I can explain it for you. I’ll try. Jesus says, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” The Bible is clear. Jesus’ brother James said that God never tempts us to do evil (James 1:13). James further explains that we are filled with all sorts of lusts. Then the devil marries us up with an opportunity to fulfill that lust. Satan knows how to play on our weaknesses. Page | 6

I’m not sure of this explanation so listen to this explanation with a little bit of skepticism. Listen to this quote from Proverbs: First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. 9 For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name” 8

Proverbs 30:8-9 / New Living Translation

We all easily understand asking God to give us enough provisions so we will be able to eat and feed our families lest we do something immoral to get money. However, the author is ju st as worried about having too much money. Do we ever think about that? Most of us have more than we really need. Instead of trusting in God, we have come to trust in our investments and insurance policies. We get all caught up in our possessions. We have so much that we often forget about God. Yet how often do we pray for God to take away our money and possessions; or even our health if we forget Him? Let me give you example from my own life. I know that I am weak willed and could easily be led astray. I could have had chances to get into secular positions of authority. I could have gotten into schools that denied the presence and power of God. They were prestigious schools. If I had gotten into them; I don’t know if I would believe in God today. So for me to pray, “Lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil,” sincerely, I may be asking God to withhold giving me things that may look good and look like blessings? Are you able to take that concept and apply it to your lives? Remember, we may be asking God to withhold things we want or desire. I often pray Ignatius Loyola’s prayer of indifference with a twist. He says something like, “Lord I will not seek health over sickness, wealth over poverty, honor over dishonor, or long life over a short life.” I have come to picture me holding a cup of wealth, health, honor, and long life. I come before God, empty the cup out, and ask God to fill my life with the right mixture of health, sickness, wealth, poverty, honor, dishonor, length and br evity of life. I ask him with the words of the songwriter, “Fill my cup Lord, I lift it up, Lord! Come and quench this thirsting of my soul; Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more-Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole!”

I want Him to fill me up with the right amount and mixture so that I will not be tempted to sin and that I will glorify Him. Again, I think this is not asking God for not only suffering that we will not be able to handle; but also not to give us too many blessings that we cann ot handle. I think this is a fairly accurate interpretation; but you will have to decide that for yourself. We are asking for victory over sin and lusts in our lives. We need to have a humble view of ourselves but also to Page | 7

balance that with our standing in God’s Kingdom. We are deeply and profoundly loved by God and so we should love and respect ourselves. WE FIND PEACE AS WE LEARN TO TRUST IN GOD AND NOT TO LEAN ON OUR OWN UNDERSTANDING.

III. OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHERS (VS 14-15) Once we find ourselves in a right relationship with God and with ourselves, we are ready to be in a right relationship with others as described in verses 14-15. WE FIND HARMONY AS WE LEARN TO APPROACH OTHERS WITH THE LOVE, GRACE, AND MERCY OF CHRIST. We can only do this if we have been filled up with the love, grace, and mercy of Christ ourselves. First of all, we need to truly understand how much we have received from Christ. The word for forgive used in this passage is aphíēmi. Dallas Willard translates this is having pity on someone. He does it for shock purposes but his point is well taken. In order to get rid of the pride that kills us in all relationships, we need to first understand how pitiable we are. When Jesus s uffered for us, died for us, and approached us, we were pitiable beings. Because we had no standing with God, no matter how rich, successful, and powerful we may have appeared to be; we were pitiable human beings because we would soon be spending eternity in hell, separated from God, without any hope of changing our eternal destinies. In this world, we may have been rich, powerful, and famous; but that could only last maybe a hundred years. But eternity is forever. That’s a long time. There was no way we could ever change our eternal destines. We were locked and loaded; headed hopelessly and helplessly towards hell. Jesus saw how pathetic and pitiable we were. It was His choice to redeem us. He didn’t come to redeem us because we were so beautiful, intelligent, or talented. He came to save us because we were pitiable. Today we are valuable, beautiful, and gifted; because He chose to redeem us and adopt us into His family. Our lives have been changed from despair to hope, death to life, and sadne ss to joy. But we must never forget how much more we need from Christ. We need constant love from God. We need constantly to live in the abundance of His love, His provision, and His presence. If He were to just turn away from us for a second; we would disappear into oblivion. And He chooses to keep us in His presence. Even if we sin, He continues to provide us with forgiveness and restoration. If that is the case, then Jesus argues we must extend that same pity, love, and forgiveness to those who sin against us. This raises the question of “How much are we willing to offer others?” Jesus told a powerful parable in Matthew 18. A man owed a king millions of dollars which he could never hope to repay. He asked the king to have pity on him so the king had pity on him and cancelled the debt. However, this guy then went out and found someone who owed him only a couple of hundred dollars which would easily be payable with some time. When this debtor asked the guy to have pity and give him just a little more time, the guy had no mercy. He took the debtor and had him thrown into prison. When the king heard of this he was outraged. Listen to how the parable ends and how Jesus analyzes it: Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured 32

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until he had paid his entire debt. 35 That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart. Matthew 18:32-35 / New Living Translation

Here is how Jesus says God does math. Since He forgives us of so much; He expects to forgive others when they sin against us. The equation is really lopsided since whatever someone has done to us; is insignificant in comparison to what we have done to God. God’s children may say this in a time of deep hurt, “I can never and will never forgive that person.” However, that feeling should only be temporary because God demands we give up that pride and forgive because it is who we are as God’s children. Keep this truth in mind. We are pitiable human beings living with other pitiable human beings in this fallen world. We can only live as a result of the pity God and others have for us. That should blast any pride we have out of the water. Love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness; those are the attitudes that should drive our relationship with others. WE FIND HARMONY AS WE LEARN TO APPROACH OTHERS WITH THE LOVE, GRACE, AND MERCY OF CHRIST. This prayer is definitely a prayer rich with meaning. It is a prayer that is worth learning and repeating in the context of worship and in our personal devotion. IN SEEKING FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD; JESUS TEACHES US HOW TO PRAY FOR OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH GOD, WITH OURSELVES, AND WITH OTHERS. This week’s spiritual discipline is to pray and meditate on “The Lord’s Prayer.” Spend a couple of days on each section of the prayer. Section #1 – Quiet yourself and reverently pray the prayer. Read through Luke 15:11 -32. Think about yourself as the prodigal son. What would cause you to hurt your father so badly? How would you expect your father to react? How would you feel if the father reacted to you in the way the father reacted to him? On another day, read and meditate on Matthew 25:31-46. After each meditation, pray the first section of the prayer, “Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Sit with that for a long while. Then close the session by praying the entire prayer. Section #2 – Quiet yourself and pray the prayer. Read through Exodus 16:1-36 and John 6:27-58. Meditate on these passages. You may want to take more than one session to complete these. As you close each time of meditation, pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Then close by praying the whole prayer. Section #3 – Quiet yourself and pray the prayer. Read through Matthew 18:21-35. Meditate on that passage. Pray, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” Then forgive who you need to forgive. Close the session by praying the whole prayer. Section #4 – Quiet yourself and pray the prayer. Read through James 1:1-27 and Proverbs 30:7-9. Meditate on them. Thank God and pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Then close the session by praying the whole prayer. Section #5 – Quiet yourself and pray the prayer. Read through John 18:33-38 and Revelation chapters 20, 21, and 22. Again, you may want to do this and meditate on them over several days.

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Close each meditation by praying, “For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever, Amen.” Close each session by praying the entire prayer. In the future – pray the Lord’s Prayer slowly and deliberately; letting the full meaning sink deep into your soul.

Lectio Divina Today, we will change up the text for our exercise. I will say the Lord’s Prayer, we will meditate on it for some time, and then we will close together by saying the Lord’s Prayer together. Our Father, who art in heaven Hallowed be Thy Name Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done On earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, As we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever Amen.

Meditate Close together praying the Lord’s Prayer

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This week’s spiritual discipline is to pray and meditate on “The Lord’s Prayer.” Spend a couple of days on each section of the prayer. Section #1 – Quiet yourself and reverently pray the prayer. Read through Luke 15:11 -32. Think about yourself as the prodigal son. What would cause you to hurt yo ur father so badly? How would you expect your father to react? How would you feel if the father reacted to you in the way the father reacted to him? On another day, read and meditate on Matthew 25:31 -46. After each meditation, pray the first section of the prayer, “Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Sit with that for a long while. Then close the session by praying the entire prayer. Section #2 – Quiet yourself and pray the prayer. Read through Exodus 16:1-36 and John 6:27-58. Meditate on these passages. You may want to take more than one session to complete these. As you close each time of meditation, pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Then close by praying the whole prayer. Section #3 – Quiet yourself and pray the prayer. Read through Matthew 18:21-35. Meditate on that passage. Pray, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” Then forgive who you need to forgive. Close the session by praying the whole prayer. Section #4 – Quiet yourself and pray the prayer. Read through James 1:1-27 and Proverbs 30:7-9. Meditate on them. Thank God and pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Then close the session by praying the whole prayer. Section #5 – Quiet yourself and pray the prayer. Read through John 18:33-38 and Revelation chapters 20, 21, and 22. Again, you may want to do this and meditate on them over several days. Close each meditation by praying, “For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever, Amen.” Close each session by praying the entire prayer. In the future – pray the Lord’s Prayer slowly and deliberately; letting the full meaning sink deep into your soul.

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