Feeding Sheep S1E6 “Sermon on the Mount: The Lord’s Prayer”

We are continuing steady in Season 1 titled “Back to the Basics.” Episode 6 will be the continuation of The Sermon on the Mount, called “The Lord’s Prayer,” and we will be continuing in Matthew 6.

Today we will discuss how the Lord’s Prayer is not something we say, rinse and repeat, but it’s more of a model structure that we follow to formulate our prayers. There are specific areas that Jesus addresses in this simple prayer, but they are pivotal to the efficacy of our prayer life. 

First, our prayers are not about the quality or quantity of our words, but the content and posture of the heart that the prayer proceeds from. Secondly this teaching is the BASICS of prayer. There are oceans full of revelation and teaching on prayer. We could do a whole season on prayer, but please remember this is just a 30 minute segment of something we could teach on for years! But the basics will give you the foundation for what you need.

Important bullets to include in your prayers: 

1. Acknowledge the Lord, His headship and authority, His seat and position in the heavenlies, high and exalted above all things. Reverence His name because it is worthy of respect, honor and awe.

2. Come into alignment by realizing that prayer is not about us, but it’s about the bigger picture plan of His kingdom and the role that God has for us to fulfill in His kingdom purpose. Recognizing that prayer is not just communication with God but it’s a weapon to push back the darkness. His will, when prayed back to Him, is giving Him access to bring heaven to the earth.

3. We pray for daily bread, understanding that it has a dual meaning, not keeping me living in one day at a time as some people teach, but praying that He gives us daily bread for ALL of our days, not just the present day. It is NOT wrong to pray or acknowledge that we have a future. It is very scriptural. He doesn’t want us to worry, be overcome by anxiety or fear of our future, because that ISN’T scriptural. We don’t dictate our future, but we recognize the possibility, and pray that God gives us what we need in the days that He has allotted for us on the earth.

4. We must be willing to repent and to forgive. You cannot walk in repentance without giving forgiveness. God commands the blessing where unity dwells. So repentance unifies us to God, forgiveness unifies us with our brothers and sisters, thus, if we don’t walk in repentance and forgiveness in order that heaven can reach earth. He will withhold forgiveness, because we are withholding progress to His kingdom plans and purpose. When we give, He will give, and things will flow like they need to.

5. Pray that distractions do not deter you from God’s will and purpose. Temptations are not from God but they come from our own lusts, so when we keep ourself submitted to God’s will and walk in the spirit we won’t fulfill the lusts of the flesh. We end the prayer the same way we start—focused on Him, His kingdom, His power and His glory—AMEN! So be it!

I hope you enjoy this episode and will continue to follow along with us as we endeavor to walk this path together, and sit at the table of the Lord and feast together!

Please feel free to reach out with any questions or comments that you may have. We will do our best to answer in a timely manner either in writing or on another future episode! But we do want to hear from you and be able to interact with you. 

May God bless you! Can’t wait to see where we grow from here. It’s an honor to be able to speak into your lives, and I don’t take it for granted!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Good morning. Welcome to Feeding Sheep Podcast. I am so glad that you are joining us today, and we are going to be in our season one, episode six. So we are almost halfway, right there, halfway there of season one, back to the basics. We're going to be continuing with the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter six. Um, we will be beginning in verse nine, and we will be doing the Lord's Prayer today. I'm very excited about it. And so we're just gonna dive in and start reading and get going because there's a lot to cover today in a little bit of time. But I am so glad that you're here, and I pray that you just open yourself up to hear and receive whatever the Lord has for you today. So, Matthew chapter six, beginning in verse nine, it says, Pray then in this way, and this is Jesus speaking. Pray then in this way, our Father who is 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 do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you your transgressions. Okay, so this is Matthew chapter six, nine through fifteen. Verses nine through thirteen are going to be the Lord's prayer, but I left fourteen and fifteen on there because I think it's very important that we discuss it before we move into the next segment. So back to the basics. Prayer is one of the most basic uh principles, uh, forms of communication that we have in the kingdom. You get saved, you communicate with the Lord through prayer, um, we talk to Him, we read our word. It doesn't get more basic than prayer, but you would be surprised the amount of people who say, I don't know how to pray, I don't know where to start, I don't know what to do. And um sometimes that is because of our own insecurities, um, and we feel like we have to do it like certain people. Um, but if you were going to model yourself after anyone, they call this prayer the Lord's Prayer. This is something that Jesus gave as a teaching tool to teach people, to teach his disciples, to teach those who were following and listening on the mount how to pray. This was, and they call it the model prayer. So if you're going to model yourself, don't model yourself after me or after those that you see around you. Model yourself after the plan, the blueprint that Christ has laid out here in his first sermon. Okay, so he said, pray in this way. Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. And so, does that mean that every prayer that I say has to have this in it, that I have to repeat this prayer? No, it is a model prayer. He said, This is for your example. So this um there is a model for how our prayers should be structured. Okay, and so the first thing, our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, the first thing that we need to do when we come to pray before the Lord is we need to acknowledge his headship. We need to acknowledge that he is father, that he is king, that he is Lord over all. Because it it takes us, it it consciously takes us out of the seat of authority and it places him where he belongs. That I'm not running this show. I'm praying to you, but I'm not in charge. You're in charge. Because if we're in charge, it's gonna get messy and nothing's gonna get done. But if he's in charge, then everything is able to fall into alignment because we know where our point of reference is coming from. We know where the headship is coming from, we know where the instruction is coming from, we know whose will that we are going to be surrendering ourselves to and aligning ourselves with. So we acknowledge his headship. He is our father, he is our king, he is our Lord, he is our savior, he is our master, who art in heaven. We acknowledge his seat, his position, and his place. He is exalted high above all others. There is no one that is higher than our God. Um, we acknowledge his holiness, hallowed be your name. Um, we put reverence on his name because it is his name that is above every name, Jesus. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. There is no other name given under heaven whereby a man shall be saved. So I am acknowledging the Father, I am acknowledging Christ, I am acknowledging the name that is above all names, and I am reverencing it with a holy awe, with a holy fear. Hallowed means let your name be sacred, let your name be holy, let your name um be majesty, let it let it let it bring awe into those who hear it, let it strike fear into those who don't believe and who don't follow. But for those who do follow, let us be fearful in in a reverent way, uh, standing in fear of the Lord, not that I'm afraid that he's going to just annihilate me or disintegrate me from the earth. He has the power to do that, and I acknowledge that, but I don't fear him as in I am afraid of him. I fear him as in I respect him, I revere his holiness, I put it above myself because he is greater than I. He is the creator, I am the creation. Okay, so that's our first and foremost thing. And then we're going to go, we're going to get into alignment with him in the next portion of this prayer. Your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And I want us to see that your kingdom come is what he says first. And I think that it's so significant because after acknowledging his lordship and his headship, we need to acknowledge that there is a bigger picture happening here and that my prayers are not solely about me. While I come to him with my concerns and with my needs because he wants me to, in another place in scripture, he was he tells us, cast your cares upon me because I care for you. So obviously I'm going to bring you my need. But at the same time, I'm going to acknowledge first that your kingdom is happening, that your kingdom is here, that I am a part of this kingdom, that the kingdom does not revolve around me, but the kingdom revolves around you. And so it shifts our perspective into a place where we can come into alignment. Because if everything is about me or if everything is about you, then our then our prayers are going to be skewed in an unbalanced way. Um, we're not going to be able to pray for the world or for the nations or for the bigger picture of what God has that He's trying to download into us because we are going to be so self-absorbed and self-focused. So he says, Your kingdom, everything isn't about me. I'm acknowledging that I am merely a part of the bigger picture, that there's a bigger picture going on. Okay, and then I say, Your will be done. Any prayer that does not align with his will is a waste of breath. Any prayer that is out of alignment with the will of God is a waste of breath. I don't want to have pointless conversations in general. I'm getting old. I don't want to just have conversations that don't matter. I don't want to just shoot the breeze. Um, you know, when you're young, you go around and you just want to be talking and chatting it up and having all this idle talk. The older I get, the less tolerance I have for things that don't have a point or that don't make sense. I'm not here for the fluff. I'm here because I mean business. Not because I don't love you enough to small talk with you, because sometimes there's a point in the small talk, but I'm here to get down to the nitty-gritty of what's going on. Because prayer isn't simply communion with him, it is not solely bringing him my need and just sitting and talking with him, which sometimes it is, but prayer is a powerful weapon. Prayers are arrows that we are shooting. They are they are supposed to be targeted, they are supposed to go straight to the will of God. I'm prayer is not about me getting my request to the Lord. It's about me praying back to God, what he's already said, so that he has access, so that he is welcomed by someone here on this planet for his will to be done in the earth as it is in heaven, so that where we are now can start looking like where he is. Okay. And so my arrows are I'm not just shooting arrows just because I just feel like shooting today. I'm shooting because I want to hit something, because I want my, I want these prayers to matter. I want them to hit their intended target. And so I'm not prayer isn't just about communion, it's about wielding a weapon that is going to push back the darkness and make a way for the kingdom of God, for the will of God to infiltrate the earth. So I'm not just sending out arrows just for fun. I am on a mission. Prayer is a mission. And I'm not saying that to put pressure on you or to freak you out or to make you think, oh, well, if I don't pray right, then I failed the mission. If you're that's condemnation. If you're receiving any of that, that's not from the Lord, okay? This is just a model. This is just so you understand what prayer is, what it's about, and this is basics, okay? You could have, we could have a whole season on prayer, and we may just down the road because until the Lord tarries, we will have many seasons. Um, and then when he doesn't tarry, we won't worry about it anymore because what we know in part, we'll know in full, because we'll be with him and praise God forever. Okay, so your kingdom come, your will be done on earth. Uh, another translation says in earth, and I think it's very important for us to acknowledge that because on and in are two different things. I wear my shirt on me, I can't wear it in me, okay? But if his will is done in me, it's more apt to be done on earth because I'm not in the earth, I'm on the earth, right? But if it's done in me and if it's happening in me, I become a conduit then for the kingdom to not just get inside of me, but to also get out. Because the kingdom of God is not just coming because magic abracadabra, that's not how God works. He's not a magician. He is king of kings, lord of lords, he is sovereign, he is holy, he is creator God, he is the one that makes it all happen, he makes it turn, he makes it all come into existence. Um, he makes nothing out of something, but he is wanting us to acknowledge him, to pray his will for it to happen inside of us so that it can begin to happen on the outside. The world's not changing just because the world decides to change. The world is changing because the people are changing, and they're either changing towards the Lord or they're changing towards sin. And as the heart of the people goes, as the heart of the church goes, so goes the world. It's not only the unbelievers that are determining what direction the world go in, goes in, it is the believer. And if we get so focused on ourselves, then we stop making an impact on the earth around us. When I have the mentality that it's me, my four, and no more, then I forget that I wasn't just put on this planet to love God, to worship him and serve him, but I was put on this planet to impact the earth while I am here for the glory, for the kingdom, for the excellency of my heavenly father, of Jesus Christ my Lord. And so um, so if it's not happening in us, it's not going to happen around us. We have a church that is very self-absorbed, and she's got to get her eyes back on the Lord, back on his will, back on the kingdom, into getting into alignment with him because the days are short and Jesus is coming soon. He's coming for a people who are looking for him, he is coming for a people who are ready without spot, without wrinkle, without blemish. He's not coming for self-absorbed believers. He is coming for those who are in passionate pursuit of him and who he is. All right, and so, and then in verse 11 it says, give us this day our daily bread. And I've heard this taught my whole life. Um, but as I begin to look into it to prepare for this teaching today, give us this day our daily bread is not just about praying for today. A lot of people say we should just be satisfied with this day because we are not promised tomorrow and all of the things. And that is true to a point. Jesus says, take no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow will take thought for itself and all the things that are gonna happen. But what he means there, and I think that people misinterpret this a lot, is that they say you should just live in this day and not think about tomorrow. Okay, but what Jesus was talking about in that same passage in context, he was talking about worry and anxiety. And he's saying, I don't, it's not that I don't want you to think about tomorrow, but I don't want you to be overwhelmed with anxiety about tomorrow because I'm not just the God of this day, I'm the God of all your days. I'm not just the God of your beginning, I'm the God of your end, I'm the God in the middle and the in-between. And so what this says here, and what people are telling us, give us this day, this day, our daily bread. They're making us believe that we should pray one day at a time for God's provision, for his sustainability to take place in our life. But this is a manifold, twofold, dual definition word. Our daily bread is not just about this day, but it is for all my days. And so I want you to come out of the belief that you're only allowed to pray for the day that you're in. That's not what Jesus is saying. He's saying, I want you, um, let me let me find what I wrote down. Um, what is at hand and what will provide continuity. That is our daily bread. My daily bread is for this day that is at hand and what will provide continuity for all the days that you give me, because it's not just about this day, but all of my days. It's a dual-fold meaning. People miss it in interpretation. Give me what I need for this day and for every day that you have planned for me. Give me my bread for now and the bread for my future, the provision for my now and the provision for my future. Why? Because Jeremiah, he told the people through the prophet Jeremiah when they went into bondage, he said, I have plans for you, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future, an expected end. God is not, he's not just thinking about our now. When he created us, he already had the end in mind at our beginning. And he knows what it's going to take to get from where we started to where we're supposed to wind up. And he has a plan for every single one of those days in between start and finish. And so it's not a sin to pray about your future. It is actually very scriptural, very biblical. And Jesus tells us here in this first model prayer don't just pray about today, but pray about every day that comes after it. Don't be in anxiety, don't be fearful, don't be in torment about it. Trust me, live in a place of rest and trust, knowing that I'm God because you've put me there. I'm seated at the highest authority, I'm taking care of everything. You're coming into alignment with me, that it's about my kingdom and what I've called you to do for my kingdom. You're getting into my will. My will is not just that you have this day, but that you have every day that I have allotted for you. And now you're praying, give me what you have for me. So I am, I'm not, I'm not dictating what this future that you have for me looks like. That's not what prayer does. Prayer doesn't mean that I'm dictating every step of the rest of my life, but I do acknowledge that it exists, that all of my days are in your hands, whether I've got 38 years or 300 years or 300 minutes. Okay, all of that is in your hands. And I'm acknowledging that everything that I have, you've got it already. And so you deliver to me what I need as I need it. I don't know what I need. You know what I need. I don't know what the whole plan is, but you know what the whole plan is. So just pour it out on me, Lord. Um, and I think it's it's very important that we understand that, that we do acknowledge that a future exists and that He plans to prosper us in it. I'm not talking about prosperity gospel where you're just running out your ears with money and things like that. Does God make people wealthy? Absolutely. Is God with people who are poor? Absolutely. We don't know what God has for us, what part that we play in the kingdom, but I know that people who are wealthy are not made wealthy for themselves. They are made wealthy to get the kingdom into the earth. And their wealth is supposed to glorify God, not exalt themselves. Okay. So, anyway, moving on. Um verse 12, and forgive us our debts as also we have forgiven our debtors. And so this is forgive me of my sins, forgive me of my shortcomings. A debt is something where I owe. Okay, a lot of um another translation says, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Um trespass means you wronged me, you stepped into a territory that didn't belong to you. Um, it belonged to me. You trampled over something where I had set a boundary, you crossed that boundary illegally without permission. And um, there are times that we cross boundaries the Lord has set for us without his permission, without his consent, and we must repent for those things. Repent does not mean I cry and I snot and I say, I'm so sorry, but repent means that I am grieved over the things that I have done. I might will cry, I might say I'm sorry, but it's not just I'm sorry. Repentance is an action that means I'm going to turn away. I'm going to make a commitment that I'm not going to cross that line again. And not only that, but when I'm asking you to forgive me for crossing the line, when I'm asking you to forgive me of my debts, my debts is something that I owe. I didn't, I defrauded you in some way. You wanted a hundred percent from me. I gave you 80%. I still owe you 20. I'm indebted to you. Now it's not just a monetary thing, it's it's our time, it's our energy and our effort. Um, and so I I owe you. You you asked me of this much, and I gave you less than. And so there's a gap here, there's a debt here. And um, so that can be interpreted. Our sins um require and call us to give less than to others, less than to the Lord. It sin will cause others to give less than to us, uh, less than our best, and there's a debt that is incurred there. And if debts are not taken care of, if trespasses are not forgiven, they give way to greed, uh, they give way to bitterness and anger. Anger will lead to murder in our hearts. Um, and when murder gets in our hearts, we will murder with our mouth, we will degrade people, tear them down, all kinds of things. And so he's saying here, forgive us our debts, forgive us our shortcomings, forgive us our trespasses, forgive us for crossing the line, as we also have forgiven those who have done the same thing to us. Repentance means nothing if you will not forgive others. You cannot truly live in repentance holding grudges against your neighbor. So, the Lord, this prayer is Lord, I want to be in your will. I want everything to play out in earth as it as it is modeled in heaven. I want you to give me what I need for this day and for all the days to come. And Lord, as I ask for forgiveness for anything, this debt, this trespass, this grievance is separating me from you. And it's disrupting the unity that I have with you. I want you to forgive me, Lord. And he's saying, you cannot walk in forgiveness if you will not give forgiveness to others who also need it. Because if I'm in disruption, if the unity is disrupted between me and God, that's one thing. But God works in unity. The scriptures tell us that unity is where the blessing is commanded. So he's saying, in order for my kingdom to come and my will to be done, my body, my people have to be in unity because unity is where is the conduit through which I'm going to flow heaven to earth. So if your unity is disrupted, not only between me and you, but between Me and your brothers and sisters, or between you and your brothers and sisters, my will is held up. So until you make it right with those around you, I'm not, I can't get it right in you. So repentance and forgiveness works hand in hand. You cannot fully walk in one without the other. It um you've you've got to have both. Verse 13, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Don't lead me into temptation. Um, the Lord is not leading us to be tempted. The Bible says he doesn't tempt us. Um, he doesn't tempt any man, but we are tempted when we're drawn away by our own lusts. Um, and so so it's it's not that we're saying don't lead me into temptation, but what we're saying is don't let me be governed by my lust to be sidetracked by temptation. Because temptations, it's it's I'm drawn away by my own lusts, by my it's a me thing. I'm there I am being self-centered again. God, I started out not wanting to be self-centered. I wanted to look at you, I wanted to see you in your position. I wanted to acknowledge your kingdom and the bigger picture and your will, not my will. So as I'm closing in my prayer, God, don't let me leave this consecrated holy communion with you and walk right out there and fulfill the lust of my flesh. Don't let me be sidetracked with distractions. Deliver me from these things, keep me from these things because yours is the kingdom, yours is the power, yours is the glory. Amen. Forever amen. So it's saying I'm I want to be in alignment in the beginning and I want to end in alignment, and I don't want anything to disrupt the alignment with me and you, with me and my brothers and sisters. For if you for if you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your father will not forgive you your transgressions. If you're holding a grudge, God will withhold from you forgiveness. Not because he doesn't want to forgive you, but because he cannot release to you what you are withholding from someone else. So release forgiveness to others. Be quick to forgive. Be quick to forgive. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath. Be quick to get that out of you because the longer you allow the grudge to stay in, the easier it is for the bitterness to settle, to put down roots. And when bitterness puts down roots, it grips on tightly. And what should have been forgiven immediately will take you years, decades to overcome. So this is the model prayer. Pray then in this way. Our Father who is 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. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. This is your model. My prayer is constructed in a way. And if you if you can't remember this and you need to write your prayer down, do that. But my prayer is structured in a way that I am acknowledging his headship, his seat, his position in the heavenlies, far above me, above this earth and above all powers and principalities. I'm acknowledging his holiness and I am putting respect and reverence on his name. And I am then getting into alignment with his will and purpose because I am acknowledging his kingdom and his bigger picture and his bigger purpose and plan that he has in mind. Then I am coming into agreement with his will so that everything that I pray from this point forward will be a hit and not a miss. Then I'm going to pray not only for the day that I have at hand, but for all of my days, that God will give me what is sufficient in the now and in what is to come. That he is going to watch over me. I acknowledge my future. I don't dictate it, but I pray in alignment with his will for that future. Then I ask forgiveness for my shortcomings, for any debt that I owe the Lord, that he would bring it to my remembrance, any debt, any trespass, any lines that I have crossed without his permission. I get that taken care of. I put it under the blood. I repent and make a commitment not to incur more debt or to cross lines that he has firmly stated, you cannot go past this place. And as I give that to my brothers and sisters, as I walk in alignment with the people that are around me and do my best to live at peace, as much as lies within me, live at peace with all men. And then I pray, Lord, do not let me be governed by my own lust, by my own temptation. Deliver me from the evil that is set around me for every trap that the enemy would set for me. Deliver me. Do not cause me to fall, so that I can prove that yours is the kingdom, that yours is the power, yours is the glory, your kingdom is what I'm living in, what I'm bringing to this earth. Your power is what keeps me, and your glory is what is being displayed from this vessel, from my life forever, not momentarily, but eternally. Amen. So be it. Amen means so be it. So do those have to be your words explicitly every time? No. But this is the model by which you set up your prayers from here on out. Um in church recently we have just started opening up in the last several months, acknowledging the Lord and His headship before we even play the first song, before we do anything. We want to acknowledge that you're the governor, you're the king, you're the supreme authority, it's your plan, it's your purpose, it's your will, you're the reason why we're here. Anything we do that's not in alignment with you is a waste of breath, a waste of time, and we don't have time or breath to waste. We want to make the most and steward well what you have put into our lives and into our hands. And so um, this is this is the basics of prayer. There is an ocean of knowledge about prayer. This is just what you need to get started. Do your words have to be big and fancy? Do you, you know, no? You just pray to God in the words that you speak. He knows the sound of your voice, he knows your language, and he speaks it, and he will speak to you in a way that you can understand him. So I love you. I pray you got a lot out of today, and we are just under 30 minutes, praise be. And uh that is all we will be talking about fasting next episode. I can't wait to hear from you, see you, give us some feedback, subscribe, and tell your friends. Love you so much. Bye.